Page 116 - Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals
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United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals
providers through working groups, formal consultations and roadshows to the top leadership of these
entities to showcase the key decisions in the policies and obtain feedback.
Triple bottom-line for Smart Dubai Platform and Dubai Data initiatives
Both initiatives were designed to deliver a triple bottom line for the city with well-conceived economic, social
and environmental impacts.
Economic impact
Dubai strongly believes in the potential of data for value creation as a strategic asset. Data is
emerging as a significant economic force across the globe, as the exchange of information becomes
more critical to a sustained global competitive positioning across sectors, spanning economic, social
and environmental ones.
The Dubai Data initiative has commissioned a comprehensive study for estimating economic and
social impacts of formal data management in Dubai. Preliminary estimates indicate that the potential
annual economic impact, direct and indirect in gross value added, will be between 1.7 and 2.7 billion
US dollars for 2021. These estimates are conservative as they do not take into account the benefits
that will be realized through seamless exchange of data between Dubai Government data providers,
or the fact that Dubai has the potential for a more exponential impact given that it is an emerging
market for value-added data services and as such much of its value creation is yet to be realized.
It circumvents the replication of ICT investments by the public sector, as well as some private sector
organizations. SDP and data services will be provided as shared services enabling operational
efficiencies achieved through significant cost savings.
PPP has enabled the utilization of private capital to supplement public sector investment in Dubai.
This has freed up additional capital for Smart Dubai to use for other city projects in Dubai.
SDP and Dubai Data are expected to contribute to Dubai’s economy by enabling innovation through
new products / services and even new ICT-related sectors (e.g. mobile apps, open data utilization,
IoT, data-driven services and economy, etc.).
SDP and Dubai Data both encourage entrepreneurship by providing a one-stop shop enabling
services for digital businesses in an easy to use and highly accessible manner. Digital businesses are
expected to contribute in a positive way towards Dubai’s GDP.
Entrepreneurs and businesses will be able to easily access and use citywide open data to assist in
planning their businesses and in managing them.
The PPP model has been devised through a comprehensive framework jointly developed by partners.
Smart Dubai as the public partner in the PPP has avoided significant upfront investments and has
been able to negotiate a smoother (highly uniform) financing scheme over the years balancing out
investments. The risks and the rewards are shared by the partners in a well-defined manner reducing
risk from each party’s own perspective.
Partners have incorporated financing mechanisms to flexibly accommodate innovation in the future
for the platform and various data services on it. Either partner or both partners can undertake future
innovations and invest depending on their risk appetite and rewards potential. Joint investment by
partners takes priority; however, the PPP agreement for SDP allows for each partner’s individual
investment if the other one refutes. So it benefits both parties and leaves sufficient room for
innovation. The partners of SDP have committed to a long-term collaboration and ensured medium-
term financing as part of the agreement, and have iterated their long term financing commitment to
further innovate in the face of increased demand for smart-city services. This has enabled the
financial sustainability of SDP.
Social impact
SDP and Dubai Data initiatives are both designed to touch the lives of people impacting them
throughout their daily lives in Dubai. Below are some examples where data and the platform will be
beneficial directly and/or indirectly for city residents:
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