_Can Dubai be the world's smartest city?

The Middle East, after a late start is gaining momentum integrating cutting edge technology into everyday life. Dubai has been at the forefront of this with its vision of becoming the 'World’s Smartest City 'by 2021 and ultimately the happiest city in the world.

November 14, 2017

To fulfill this mission, Dubai is embracing technology innovation to make it a more efficient, seamless, safe and impactful experience for its residents and the 15.2m (2016) international guests which visit the Emirate.

The progress of becoming the World’s Smartest City will be tracked by a new Smart Dubai Index which was developed in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union and the Dubai Statistic Centre to evaluate and measure how facilities and services in Dubai contribute to the vision of Smart Dubai.

Dubai offers much promise in achieving this goal, as it’s a relatively new city which can integrate technology as it expands and develops. This is in contrast to the developed world where change can be slower as the technology has to be retro-fitted into its outdated infrastructure.

Over 300 global ICT firms already operate in Dubai. With the city leveraging its location, infrastructure and regulatory structure to attract global players for their regional hubs, this figure is likely to continue to grow. As at Q1 2017 of the AED 4.7 billion of foreign direct investment into Dubai, 24.3% was attributed to high and medium technology investment.

Population growth in the Middle East and Africa over the next decade is expected to grow by 30%, a number roughly equating an extra 1.8 billion people and combined with the increasing levels of internet and mobile penetration we expect the growth in the technology sector to continue to flourish

The effects of internet and mobile technology for Dubai as hub

Firms are continuing to use Dubai as a base for their operations given its developed infrastructure and ambitious plans to become the world’s smartest city.

The development of internet and mobile technology in Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) provides many opportunities for Dubai:

• Increased internet penetration in the region offers global technology firms a greater opportunity to expand their businesses into these potential high growth markets.

• Increased quality of internet service can facilitate the ability for fintech to penetrate markets where current speeds and infrastructure (in some regional countries) may limit the viability for fintech implementation.

• With a larger segment of the population using faster mobile internet connections, the cost is likely to reduce and therefore the pace of migration will likely increase.

• Dubai’s reach as a regional hub (offering global connectivity, developed infrastructure and regulatory certainty), plus the highest mobile connectivity index score in MEASA, and the second highest internet penetration percentage, places Dubai as an ideal location for firms to operate from.

For more information on this report or for advise on the UAE Commercial market, please contact Matthew Dadd

#Dubai #SmartCity #2020