Following the announcement of the UAE’s AI strategy last month, the Smart Dubai Government Establishment has hosted a workshop to provide training for government institutions around best practices in artificial intelligence.
The workshop was part of the Artificial Intelligence Roadmap and Laboratory initiative, launched by Smart Dubai in March of 2017. It is the second of its kind to be organised in collaboration with IBM, with seven Dubai Government institutions taking part – two more than the five entities that took part in the first edition organised by Smart Dubai back in July 2017.
“Artificial intelligence is an essential part of Dubai’s smart transformation,” said SDG’s CEO Wesam Lootah. “It has become all the more important as an engine for nation-wide smart transformation following the launch of the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence – part of the UAE Centennial 2071 initiative – announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.”
“When we launched the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory back in March, we wanted it to be a training platform allowing participants to hone their AI-related skills, as well as a space to experiment with AI-powered prototypes for government applications and services. Since the launch, we have succeeded in identifying a range of scenarios to implement the technology in government, improve services and meet the aspirations of our leaders to make Dubai the happiest and smartest city in the world,” Lootah added.
The main objective from the workshops is to develop capacities of government teams tasked with implementing the Artificial Intelligence Roadmap to improve services. The workshop, moreover, refines participants’ skills, enhances their knowledge and helps them develop better cloud computing services and applications.
Smart Dubai had launched several AI-related initiatives and projects that seek to improve government services. Beginning in 2016, the “Rashid” – formerly known as “Saad” – project was launched in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development and IBM.
“Rashid” is an AI-powered service and an interactive platform providing official and reliable answers to entrepreneurs looking to start a business in Dubai, or investors looking for investment opportunities. It also helps customers identify the procedures and documents required to make a new investment in Dubai, expand an existing investment, or obtain commercial licenses. Answers are based on data from the Department of Economic Development.
