To be the first of a kind takes a lot of determination, foresightedness, and courage. Perhaps no one can tell that tale better than the city of Dubai! Be it the tallest man-made the structure, the first seven-star hotel, tallest hotel, biggest aquarium or biggest mall, the City of Gold has seen it all. With a significantly high rate of per capita income, today, Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. There is only one way that a nation can achieve such a phenomenal rate of growth. And that is by embracing and empowering technology! From tourism to education, transport and resource management, Dubai is technology top to bottom. Just goes to show a well versed and tech enthusiast government can take you places!

“My vision is simple… In the future, all commercial action will be in the cyberspace. But the cyber world will need a ground base on this physical world” said Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of UAE and ruler of Dubai in 1999 during the creation of Dubai Internet City (DIC). The Internet City was part of the first Information and Communications Technology strategy that was aimed at transforming Dubai into a knowledge economy and in all essence, this can be considered as the start of Dubai’s technological progress. When it first started off, DIC roughly had around 100 companies while today, it is home to more than 16,000 global companies. Talk about visionaries!

The wellbeing of a land is not just in it’s commercial or industrial progress. The actual prosperity lies in the happiness of the people living there. And what if technology can aid a government in achieving it! This is exactly what His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum aims to achieve with the Smart Dubai initiative. Founded in 2014, Smart Dubai has a very simple vision – to make Dubai the happiest city on Earth. And how is technology being a part of it? By inter-connecting various entities and departments of Dubai government with one another, people would have smooth access to government services in the comfort of their smart devices. The Smart City strategy features more than a 100 initiatives on different sectors such as transport, communications, infrastructure, electricity, economic services and urban planning.

Some of the salient features of the Smart City initiative are;

Dubai Design District – When your goal is to be the happiest city in the world, you just cannot ignore creative people, can you? The Dubai Design District (D3) is an innovative project wholly developed for the design community which includes entrepreneurs, startups, luxury, recognized international design and fashion brands. D3 aims to be the ultimate destination for creative people to fulfill their dreams. And that gives the world more reasons to look at Dubai as the dreamland!

5-D Control Room – To monitor the projects of the smart city initiative, a 5-D Control Room is being constructed. Yes, as the case goes with Dubai, this is the largest room of its kind in the world! The room would be used to oversee government projects, service indicators, roads, weather conditions etc.

Electric Car Charging Stations, Smart Parking, and Live Traffic Monitoring – To take a happening city like Dubai to the next level, mobility has to remain uncompromised. Smart City initiative has its heart at the right place and it is indeed uplifting the daily conveyance of the public. Electric Car Charging Stations are being set up to encourage the use of environment-friendly cars, smart parking systems are being enabled to indicate the drivers the availability of location of parking spaces and even live traffic updates are provided that would help people to plan their journey even before they step out of their home.

Wifi – Free Wifi! If that doesn’t please someone, well it is almost impossible to please him/her with anything else! Under the Smart City initiative, Dubai now has more than 200 wi-fi spots in public spaces. So, wherever you are, you are never too far away from anything amazing that the city has to offer.

Government Apps – What can be easier than staying just a swipe away! Through apps such as mPay and Dubai now, the Dubai government has facilitated quick access to plenty of their services such as Electricity and Water payments, Police traffic fines, Utility bills, Customs Services, Health, Residency, Education, Business etc.

And here are some of the major projects in support of the Smart City initiative;

Dubai Blockchain Strategy – A collaboration of Smart Dubai Office and Dubai Future Foundation, the Dubai Blockchain Strategy aims to explore technology innovations that would help in providing more efficient and impactful city experiences. The initiative has three strategic pillars namely Government Efficiency, Industry Creation, and International Leadership. Under Government Efficiency, the blockchain strategy will help to enable a paperless digital layer for all city transactions ranging from visa applications, bill payments, license renewals and various other documentation. Industry creation aims at providing thousands of business opportunities in the private sector. The major industries that will benefit are real estate, financial technology and banking, healthcare, transportation, urban planning, smart energy, digital commerce and tourism. The International Leadership pillar focuses on the convenience of international travelers to Dubai. With the pre-approved passport, security clearance, visas, and easier mobility within the city due to approved drivers licenses and car rental, Dubai aspires to be the easiest and safest hub for global passengers.

Happiness Agenda – The Happiness Agenda is set to use innovative technology and a broad connected network for a unified platform to discover, change, educate and measure people’s happiness. During the hackathon ‘Happiness Hack Dubai’, four teams showcased prototype solutions to four key challenges in the travel sector. If you are a visitor or an investor who is about to visit Dubai for the first time, how would you like to take a virtual tour of the city before you even step foot here! Named ‘DubEye’, the first team called ‘Ambassadors’ developed a Virtual Reality platform during the hackathon that would enable prospective visitors to explore the city well before their arrival so that they can feel more confident about their business plan.

Your first visit to Dubai can be a bit confusing. But wait, what if an Artificial Intelligence assistant greets you with a phone call in the airport in your very own regional language! That was the working prototype displayed by the ‘Welcome’ team and their AI assistant can even help you with timely information and advice beginning with queue lengths, luggage location, and local sim card services!

The team ‘Guest’ developed a working prototype of a system to provide personalised experiences for the visitor upon reaching a hotel. Their system makes use of wearable technology for access and service payment within the hotel. The final team ‘Experience’ showcased ways of improving a visitor’s emotional experience while in Dubai. Using visitor’s biometrics and social media analysis, the system guides the visitors around the city based on their personal data and preferences. So, if you are a fan of ice creams, antique materials or shopping, the system will know the best place to take you!

‘Rashid’ Artificial Intelligence Service – Named after the late His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the leader of Dubai’s renaissance, ‘Rashid’ is a smart artificial intelligence service offering official and reliable answers to customer questions. The service will help the customers with necessary procedures, steps, documents, and requirements to conduct their transactions all according to the vast database of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (DED). The service is exclusively designed to help entrepreneurs, business owners and local and foreign investors who desire to pursue a business in the emirates. ‘Rashid’ can analyse bulk volume of information and provide accurate feedback in a very short time to the customers.

Artificial Intelligence in Road Accident Prevention – Smart Dubai signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and DERQ systems to encourage the use of AI in car accident prevention in Dubai. By exchanging information, ideas, and innovation, the participant entities would pool in all their energies and resources for safer roads all throughout the nation. Dubai Silicon Oasis is a government-owned free zone established to provide business and technology support to large enterprises while DERQ is a Dubai based technology firm entirely dedicated in using AI and connected-vehicle technology to make Dubai roads safer.

Internet of Things Strategy – Dubai’s Internet of Things Strategy aims at building the world’s most advanced IoT ecosystem in order to augment the lifestyle of people. The initiative focuses on safeguarding Dubai’s digital wealth and to motivate government departments to move towards a 100% paperless government. The strategy combines data sources for the Dubai Pulse programme, which is the centre platform for the compilation of all data available to both private and public sectors. The initiative is set to be implemented as four continuous phases over the period of three years. Imagine the kind of productivity and efficiency that can be achieved when authorities gain vast information and insight to support their decision!

Robotic Teachers – When you are a kiddo, you never run out of advices from parents, teachers or other relatives regarding your general behaviour and engagement. Now, what if there is a robot in your classroom to teach you that! Welcome to the future. Atlab, a tech-focused educational resource company, worked closely with Ministry of Education for five years to turn robotic teachers in Dubai classrooms into a reality. In the initial stage, three primary level schools will receive the service of this supercool robot. They are programmed to guide students in engagement skills and social behavior. Once a student profile is loaded into the robot, it will automatically register the student’s details. So then, the teachers can move on to assign the student, specific tasks that the robot will support. The robot, in turn, will guide the student and provide a complete and detailed evaluation of the student’s performance to the teacher. In other words, very soon, student grades might well be determined by these robots. (Jeez… As if convincing human teachers was not tough enough). Atlab is constantly working hard to develop modified versions of the robots that will monitor children’s progress for the whole year. They are also developing a robot that will teach a student at home when they are sick or unable to attend the school. Education is surely in for a revolution in Dubai!

Autonomous Aerial Taxi – Find commuting through the traffic on the road a bit hectic? Dubai’s Autonomous Aerial Taxi (AAT) might just have the solution! The test flight for the first ever Autonomous Aerial Taxi was held during late 2017 in Dubai and it flew for about five minutes at a height of 200 meters. There were no passengers for the first flight but the event was witnessed by the transportation authorities and the crown prince of Dubai. AATs are fully electric and have nine independently equipped rechargeable batteries. The batteries can provide 30 minutes of flying time and can take up to 40 minutes to fully charge when plugged in. If all goes well, Dubai skies will be filled with Aerial Taxis by 2022. Because traveling through road is looking too mainstream!

If the world is moving fast, Dubai is moving faster. And the wheel that accelerated that growth is nothing other than technology! It will really be impossible to list down all the technological progresses happening in the city of superlatives. Every moment of every day, Dubai is thriving hard to better itself. When resources, infrastructure, and a thoughtful government comes in place, a nation can do wonders. Dubai is the living example of that!