A new study has ranked Dubai as the top smart city in the Persian Gulf region, thanks to its strategic vision and practical approach.
An article by Computer News Middle East reported on the recent study by research firm Navigant Consulting. The report was commissioned by Chinese tech telecoms equipment maker Huawei.
In the report, Navigant examined how ready cities in the Gulf region were to ascend to the next level of smart city deployment and adoption.
“Dubai stands out in this Navigant Research ranking as a Leader among cities for its strategic vision and ambitious implementation program,” said Navigant research director Eric Woods. “Overall, cities in the region are expanding their digital infrastructures, developing new services, and investing in large-scale building programs.”
Navigant determined that Dubai’s leadership and its Smart Dubai Office laid a strong smart city foundation upon which a range of innovations were being instituted to improve city quality of life and operations.
Data key to Dubai evolution
And as it continues to grow its smart city capabilities, data is becoming key to Dubai’s continued evolution. A key program that facilitates this focus is the Dubai Data Initiative for data sharing and analytics.
“The emerging focus on open data and data analytics programs is an important next step,” said Woods. “This will be one of the most important developments in the next stage of smart city evolution in the Gulf region.”
Instrumental in the city’s success is the Smart Dubai roadmap. As part of this plan, Dubai aims to deliver 1,000 services via 100 initiatives by 2017.
As of September 2016, 150 services and initiatives have been completed, with Dubai documenting 500 current or future initiatives in the works.
Some smart city highlights from Gulf city include: a smart mobility initiative for traffic control; improved power and water consumption through a smart grid program; smart health services; and mobile-enabled e-Government services.
