Crown Prince launches latest edition of Dubai Future Accelerators

The fourth edition of Dubai Future Accelerators has been launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dubai Future Foundation.

Dubai Future Accelerators aims to match Dubai government entities with forward-thinking institutions from around the world in a bid to build productive collaborations that will drive innovation across the emirate, and the Crown Prince officially launched the latest iteration of Future Accelerators which found partners for 12 government entities.

During his visit, His Highness said that Dubai leads the way in presenting an example of how future governments should operate and adopt advanced work methodologies to overcome challenges, and create solutions.

He said: “Dubai continues to build partnerships with leading institutions in the private sector to help boost the development of projects that positively impact the quality of life for societies.”

Accompanying Sheikh Hamdan on the visit were Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dubai Future Foundation and Managing Director of Dubai Future Foundation; Khalfan Belhoul, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Future Foundation; and Abdul Aziz Al Jazairi, Deputy CEO for Strategy and Projects at Dubai Future Foundation.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan listened to a briefing on what has been accomplished in previous editions of the Dubai Future Accelerators programme, and expressed satisfaction with the projects that were completed in record time.

“We look forward to raising the bar in the fourth edition of Dubai Future Accelerators and to finding technology-driven solutions to the challenges that we address,” His Highness added.

“The programme helped set advanced work methodologies to tackle challenges in various sectors and find innovative solutions. The programme allows government entities to foresee and solve future challenges and create active partnerships across sectors.”

The new edition’s programme takes place under the theme ‘Take Part in Creating the Future’, and will see teams work together for nine weeks, with work progression divided into eight stages.

During the visit, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan attended a meeting with government entities participating in this edition’s programme under the theme “Take Part in Creating the Future.” The 4th edition of the Dubai Future Accelerators will see teams working over a period of nine weeks in collaboration with partners from the private sector. Work progression will be divided into eight stages.

Each government entity has been set challenges, including Dubai Police which has been tasked with decreasing the crime rate by 25 per cent by 2021, using AI in statistics to support the decision-making process, and enhancing emergency response.

Dubai Municipality has been challenged to use AI-backed and/or blockchain solutions to enhance pest control, construction work, food safety, and public health, with the Roads and Transport Authority has been asked to find ways to enhance integration and sustainability of infrastructure, and enhance autonomous transport with wireless charging capabilities.

The challenge issued to Dubai Electricity and Water Authority is to deploy innovative solutions to enhance the quality of service, and Etisalat has been asked to transform operations and streamline customer support and promote self-service to 90 per cent by 2021, as well as test the adoption of augmented reality (AR) solutions and AI. Meanwhile, du must explore ways to implement machine learning and big data to enhance corporate support by 30 per cent.

Smart Dubai’s tasks are to make use of behavioural reinforcement to increase use of digital government services by 25 per cent, and use IoT to manage resource planning systems at government entities to save time and effort by 30 per cent.

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai has been challenged to enhance ‘smart tunnel’ solutions to streamline passport control process for travellers, and the Department of Economic Development – Dubai must find ways to use AI in boosting efficiency of control and inspection procedures by 25 per cent by 2018.

Finally, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority – Dubai has been tasked with empowering educational institutions to use smart systems to enhance student skills, and challenge issued to the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives are to ehance living standards for refugees and utilise solar energy in desalination technology.