The plan of making Smart City Dubai by 2021

The plan of making Smart City Dubai by 2021

Dubai’s ambitious, smart city plans that aim to cover more than 545 projects cutting across multiple segments like futuristic infrastructural development, travel & tourism, and process management solutions are offering opportunities for tech startups.

The plan of making Smart City Dubai by 2021 revolves around numerous use cases of AI, IoT, Blockchain, and Machine Learning that will deal with irregularities in a The government in the United Arab Emirates has set-up millennial goals that will revolve around using core technology like AI, IoTs, Blockchain, Big Data and Robotics to increase the HDI in happiness, economic growth, and proper utilization of resources for a far better infrastructural development to make Dubai and its suburbs a living example of technology oriented smart cities to bring significant transformation in the lives of citizens. The government in the UAE has realized that oil has started to turn exhaustive and the discovery of shale gas in California has hurt their sales and revenue at global level. Therefore, Dubia wants to innovate with technology and make it a tourism hub for the world for long term economic sustainability. The process has well begun with the millenium goals of smart cities that was proposed in 2014.

How Do They Propose To Achieve the Millenium Goal of Smart City by 2021?

Such an ambitious plan demands a proper approach for its fulfillment and the government has framed the roadmap cutting across on the following lines;

By Building Smart Livable & Resilient City

Building a smart city that has all the technological aspects and upgrades call for a collaborative association of some stalwarts in the technology domain. The government is focussed at building better connectivity planning, social welfare, technology upgrade and integration of smart-tech to simplify and ease the regular hassles of the people. In this pursuit, they are using state-of-the-art technology for safety and security measurement. “Police without Policemen” is one such ambitious project that uses sustainable development goals to make the neighbourhood safe. The authorities are using Smart Dog technology that will include a wi-fi enabled 360 degree CCTV view that will link houses directly with the police stations via raw footage recording. This airborne surveillance program will minimize the dependability of patrolling by policemen for facilitating law & order in the city.

This is just one of the many projects as proposed by the authorities and with the inclusion of Digital DEWA Project, which is the first project in the world that uses automated AI powered renewable energy digital utility to give unhindered supply of solar power, energy storage, use of AI to enhance customer experience, and Data Hub to access the data of all the citizens of Emirates. The Data Hub platform called MoRo will offer cutting edge colocation and cloud computing solutions to help push the digital agenda of cities in Dubai.

By Building a Competitive Economy Using High-End Technology Solutions

Dubai and other regions in the Emirate have been eager to welcome smart innovations engineered by emerging technology startups to enter their soil and bring transformative evolution for the betterment of the economy. The authorities in the Emirate are motivated to endorse skilled workforce that has the capability of using technology to bring about significant development in the economy. The launch of Dubai Blockchain Policy complements this millenial dream. The government in Dubai has been influenced by the groundbreaking milestones achieved by Blockchain Technology that they are eager to move all online transactions to occur via blockchain technology. In order to help meet with this ambitious plan, a road-map framed on foundational capabilities, network governance and network operations has already started to shape with time. The Director General of Smart Dubai Dr Aisha was quoted saying that the emirate has been embracing advanced and emerging technologies and described blockchain as one of the most “prominent and promising of these breakthrough technologies”. She further added that, “With that in mind, the Dubai Future Council for Blockchain sought to develop a policy to support government entities and private companies to implement the technology and form value-creating blockchain networks” Such a statement has come as a key inspiration and influencer for blockchain startups in Dubai and from other parts of the world to introduce their smart solutions for integrating decentralized ledger technology to check irregularities in the operations in Dubai. Dubai blockchain policy will function via 4 stages with the participation of more than 68 attendees that will include startups, banks, government & semi-government bodies to set-up a clear plan and outline the process of integration and execution of blockchain technology in the specific function of key departments in Dubai. To include a few notable humble mentions of blockchain technology in different sectors in Dubai, let us first start with Art Exhibitions. The Dubai Art Bank has proposed under the Dubai Smart City project to introduce virtual blockchain enabled art trading platform. By using this platform, the customers or visitors can buy art using cryptocurrencies. Such a move will dramatically transform the old methods of buying and selling art. By digitizing the process, a better accountability, management and efficiency will occur in auctions.

The use case of blockchain application further transcends to touch upon the automobile segment as well where Dubai Vehicle Chain will manage and maintain all the vehicles registered with the RTAs and manufacturing units in Dubai. In this way, the complete history of the vehicle will be recorded in a decentralized ledger technology. With the introduction of blockchain in the automobile buying and selling process, the life cycle and buying experience of vehicles will move many notches higher to please customers. These are just a few sectors where blockchain technology and AI will contribute, but the core millennial plan is to include more than 545 projects that will influence 1,100 essential government services in Dubai, resulting in the annual revenue generation to the tune of US$2.83 billion by 2021.

By Introducing Smart Transport Solutions Powered by Autonomous & Shared Mobility Solutions

Traffic congestions, environment pollution and lesser use of public transport have posed significant challenges towards attaining a clean environment and hassle-free travelling experience for citizens. As a result, some of the leading government agencies have proposed the use of smart technology integration in transportation. Smart Parking Project is one such addition in some of the pioneering projects in Dubai under Smart City Upgrade. The technology is using a vehicle detection sensor that automatically registers the time duration and uses sensors to provide information to the vehicle owners of space availability and other details. The parking system has been integrated with IoTs and applications that facilitate smooth paying for parking tickets via account with just a tap on the mobile phone.

To further ease the traffic congestions, another pioneering project called Dh590 is making headways. With the introduction of this project, a smart traffic system will be operational in Emirates. Under this project, a new and much improved smart traffic management system will be introduced. This traffic system will minimize instances of accidents on the roads and even ease personal mobility. The RTA Governor General and Chairman of the Board of Directors has said that, “This project is one of the key deliverables of RTA’s Innovation Lab, Masar 2030, endorsed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. It encompasses the design and construction of an integrated infrastructure for Dubai smart traffic systems, and the construction of a new Traffic Control Centre at Al Barsha. It envisages increasing the smart system coverage of Dubai roads network from the present 11 per cent, to 60 per cent.”

He has further added that, “The project will also cut the time of detecting accidents and congestion build up and, accordingly, accelerate response times. It will also provide instant traffic information to the public about road networks via new Variable Messaging Signs and smart apps. It will further step up the management of traffic movement at major events, such as Expo 2020.”

In this project, use of traffic monitoring and data systems will be in place that will be powered by CCTVs and drones, vehicle detection devices, bluetooth devices and weather sensors.

Conclusion

Dubai will be launching Smart City Expo in 2020 that will be specifically targeting and discussing on the sectors that will demand the intervention of smart technology for better living standards and growth. Numerous startups in the technology domain will have significant opportunities to present their projects that will help in the development of the Dubia as a smart city by 2021.