Smart Dubai and the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) declared that they would team up to open data exchange and sharing across the UAE and populate the UAEs authentic data platform with information from Smart Dubais Dubai Pulse the backbone of the emirates smart change.

The collaboration was declared as the two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding on day three of GITEX Technology Week 2019 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Her Excellency Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General of Smart Dubai, and FCSA Director General H.E. Abdulla Nasser Lootah, marked the MoU representing their particular entities.

Data is an indispensable component for all sustainable improvement and smart transformation plans, said H.E. Dr Aisha. It offers a strong establishment for decision-making and fuels digitalization and automation projects. As the government entity tasked with changing Dubai into the smartest and happiest city in the world, Smart Dubai has led endeavors to gather and catalogue Dubais city data.

Were enchanted to be forging this partnership with the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, which presents a starting point for scaling Smart Dubai Datas services to the national level, H.E. included. The Dubai Pulse platform is one such service, which was launched to be the backbone of the emirates smart transformation. The platform has been a tremendous success, recently reporting a surge in visitor numbers particularly from abroad where it registered 1.5 million visits.

Besides, the MoU grows our network of partners and moves us forward towards achieving our objectives. Smart Dubai is committed to working together with government and private entities from across Dubai and the UAE, in accordance with the vision and directives of our wise leadership, the Smart Dubai Director General concluded.

For his part, H.E. Abdulla Nasser Lootah stated: We are very excited with the progressing coordinated effort we have with Smart Dubai. Supporting this important project is in line with the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authoritys vision and strategic objectives, which are based on the principle of knowledge for prosperity and forging innovative partnerships with government and private entities in the UAE and abroad. By scattering accurate and up-to-date data across Dubai Pulse, the FCSA is adding a new and innovative channel to make knowledge more accessible to users.

H.E. Lootah included that the FCSA, in partnership with Smart Dubai, would enable Dubai Pulse users from federal, local, private, and academic sectors to access data provided by the FCSA quickly and efficiently, which serves to empower users, be they individuals, institutions and communities.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) lists five main objectives, the first of which is Franchising the Data Science Lab Approach, whereby the FCSA would collaborate with Smart Dubai Data (SDD) to replicate the Design Thinking Workshop the SDD had organized with public and private-sector entities earlier this year on a federal level. Secondly, the two entities are set to work together on Use Case Collaboration, classifying each use case along four key criteria: Data; Data Analysis; Productization; and Resources.

The MoUs third objective is Knowledge Sharing, whereby the FCSA would contribute to the upcoming Open Data Science Meetups and Hackathons, while the SDD, in return, participates in a series of knowledge workshops the FCSA is organizing around Big Data. Participation in this case can take on many forms, including hosting, sponsoring, content sharing, and attending.

Objective number four is entitled Compliance Framework; it calls on the SDD to share its insights, lessons learned, and success stories on the federal level. Meanwhile, the fifth and final objective centers around Open Data and Dubai Pulse Collaboration, and will see the Authority collaborate with the SDD on open data, using the latters approach to enrich the UAEs open data on a national level.

Dubai Pulse was intended to be the backbone of the emirates digital transformation, gathering information from different government entities. It incorporates three layers of data: the first is free of charge and caters to the public, while the second offers a thorough analysis of the data (in exchange for a fee) to be used for academic, professional, commercial, and economic purposes. The third and final layer includes data accessible exclusively to Dubai Government entities.

Dubai Pulse currently boasts 460 datasets from 35 entities, out of an aggregate of 2,000 that the platform is hoping to include in the near future, offering holistic information on vital sectors, namely, business, the economy, education, the environment, finance, government policies, healthcare, housing, residency visas, security and justice, sports, and transportation (land and maritime).

The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority is a Federal Government entity created to upgrade the UAEs national information and aggressiveness capacities, functioning as the official government source for national statistics, and working to improve the UAEs ranking in global competitiveness reports.