Page 106 - Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

1 Introduction

1.1 Background
The United Arab Emirates, and Dubai in particular, have taken major strides in the digitization of services,
processes and assets, and have emerged as a regional leader. The Smart Dubai initiative was born out of the
visionary approach of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime
Minister of the UAE and The Ruler of Dubai, to focus the city’s unified efforts towards its most valued asset
– its people. The vision of Smart Dubai is to become the happiest city in the world (by embracing technology
as an enabler). The Smart Dubai initiative plays a pivotal role in guiding and enabling the city’s ongoing digital
transformation across all sectors. Since the Smart Dubai initiative was founded in March of 2014, the city has
witnessed exceptional growth in the availability and quality of digital services contributing to more efficient
and improved city experiences for the government, private sector and individuals. Dubai embarked on its
smart and sustainable city transformation through several tracks including legal, governance, infrastructure
and services, among others.

During the past two decades, the numerous digital transformation initiatives in the city drove public
acceptance and adoption of ICTs in all aspects of life. In 2017, Dubai, a city of 2.5 million inhabitants and one
of seven emirates of the UAE, has one of the highest levels of ICT adoption in the region, both by the public
and the government. Dubai has historically pioneered an exceptional quality of life and an unparalleled
business environment. Outlined in His Highness’ vision, technology, as the platform for solutions, is simply to
play the role of an enabler, rather than the principal goal. The Smart Dubai initiative fulfils the vision of His
Highness to make Dubai the happiest city on earth. The impact the city can create with the goal to drive
happiness is enormous, and is growing tremendously each year. Numerous implementations ranging from
massive “Internet of Things” (IoT) systems, data analytics, pioneering blockchain, hyperloop projects,
innovative 3D printing initiatives, autonomous vehicles and drone experiments, robotics and artificial
intelligence applications were developed and trialled as part of the initiative. These initiatives serve the
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attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) SDG 11 .
1.2 Challenge and response

In this context, Smart Dubai launched two major and complementary initiatives called the Smart Dubai
Platform (SDP) and Dubai Data which unite various aspects of Dubai’s smart and sustainable city
transformation at the data, and selective ICT infrastructure and service levels. SDP forms the new digital
backbone of Dubai in its citywide digital transformation whereas the Dubai Data initiative aims to achieve a
seamless, efficient, impactful and safe data governance and data sharing at the city level contributing to
Dubai’s smart transformation.

Smart Dubai Platform: Prior to SDP, various entities were working independently to deliver their smart-city
initiatives with commonly needed data, IoT and related ICT infrastructure requirements. The city potentially
risked inefficiencies stemming from replication of ICT investments, resources and services.
Hence, Smart Dubai launched the SDP initiative to unify the common collective smart-city needs of public
sector entities by identifying various inherent synergies (to be extended to private sector entities in due
course based on demand). SDP is a large-scale, complex initiative consisting of infrastructure, data and
services which will be delivered in multiple phases. SDP entailed significant capital and operational
expenditure, spread over time and associated with its implementation and roll-out phases. Additionally, it
posed challenges in terms of sophisticated smart ICT and data management skills, platform development and
provisioning at the city level, as well as platform and related services commercialization.
The financing challenge of the SDP initiative was to formulate a smart mechanism for this citywide initiative
in a creative and commercially viable manner without necessarily relying purely on traditional public sector
funding. After a careful feasibility analysis and extensive consultations with stakeholders, a public-private

44 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

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