Page 205 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Executive Summary

Dubai Data Initiative: Data in Dubai – as in every city around the world - has not necessarily been managed
as a strategic asset for the city in its own right, but has:
 Existed as an ‘after thought’, often in an ad hoc manner as a result of each Entity’s activities
 Been locked away within individual Entities - limiting the ability for collaboration and innovation
with external stakeholders and organisations
 Been limited in terms of value created directly from it, and the restricted value created was confined
in most cases to a single entity.
This traditional operating model rendered it challenging to join-up data and services around city needs, and
limited the innovation potential to drive city-wide change at speed. And it became clear that it would hamper
sustaining city needs in the future, as Dubai embraced its city-wide digital transformation and adopted
“Internet of Things” among others. As city assets and infrastructures such as buildings, roads, places and a
huge range of things and devices are becoming smart and internet-connected, the number of Dubai data
sources are also multiplying exponentially – as will the potential for inefficiency, duplication and lack of
“citizen-centricity” if that data is not effectively managed.

Dubai therefore needed to establish a radically different operating model for its data. Hence, Smart Dubai
has launched the Dubai Data Initiative to address and mitigate these impediments. Drawing on the
49
“transformational operating model for Smart Cities” recommended in the relevant international standards ,
Dubai Data Initiative established a new Modus Operandi based on:
 Clear governance frameworks to ensure data is managed as a strategic asset – with clear
accountabilities for maintaining and exploiting data sets, supported by clear, principle-based rules
for promoting re-use and innovation with data sets

 Use of open standards to ensure that data sets can easily be leveraged by various city constituents
inside and, where appropriate, outside the Dubai Government

 Nurturing the development of a flourishing ‘data market place’ in Dubai, in which city entities,
public and private sector organisations, voluntary sector and community organisations and
individual citizens are enabled to use Dubai Data to create new sorts of social and economic value.

2 The smart project(s)

2.1 Vision and content

Smart Dubai has embarked on implementing a comprehensive citywide digital platform, namely the Smart
Dubai Platform (SDP), to unite all layers of the city’s ICT architecture, from connected infrastructure, to data
orchestration, to enabling services such as Digital IDs and payments, IoT and data management, to personal
dashboards and applications. SDP is one of the key enablers for the smart city transformation of Dubai and
smart leading edge ICT technologies were embedded in SDP as key enablers.

Smart Dubai Platform (SDP) is the digital backbone fueling the smart and sustainable city transformation of
Dubai. This innovative platform represents a shift away from models where city infrastructures are built
independently, operating in parallel silos with providers merely supplying point solutions. Instead, this
unique platform applies a horizontal and collaborative approach that integrates the city’s information
technology and services.

The SDP is unique in several ways, principally in the breadth of city solutions that it will empower and in its
employment of innovative leading edge technologies.

____________________
49 See Section 2.3 and Footnote 1 on the OASIS Transformational Government Framework and BSI Smart City
Framework.

U4SSC series 201