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Contact Centre received a total of 40,383 cases in August 2016, with voice calls, email, online chat and City Guard topping the list of most popular contact methods

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Contact Centre's continuous success is attributed to ADSIC's ongoing efforts to provide high-quality government services with easy access

The UAE capital of Abu Dhabi announced the launch of free WiFi facility in public spaces on Friday.

The Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) announced that free public WiFi coverage will be available on public transport buses, beaches, and in public parks.

“The initiative aims to support Abu Dhabi’s smart city development project and advance its digital infrastructure,” it said in a statement shared by Abu Dhabi Media Office.

Abu Dhabi and Singapore aim to accelerate smart city development to sustainably improve quality of life, operational efficiency and competitiveness

Abu Dhabi and Singapore are expanding ties to accelerate smart city innovations in the two countries.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), Enterprise Singapore (ESG) and IPI Singapore - a subsidiary of ESG – have jointly launched an innovation call to advance the smart city agenda.

The announcement was made on Sunday by the Managing Director (MD) of Dewa, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, before the media and employees of the departments at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai.

Dubai Now is a comprehensive application for all smart city services and the first unified platform of its kind that covers most of the daily needs of Dubai residents through more than 130 smart services provided by government and private agencies in a single user experience, making city services more smooth and effective and transforming Dubai into a global digital capital .

Matar Al Humairi, Executive Director of the Smart Dubai Government Corporation, told Al Bayan: The number of transactions completed through the Dubai Now application has reached 18 million digital payment transactions, worth more than 9.4 billion dirhams, equivalent to 2.5 billion dollars, since the launch of the application, which began with more than 80 service in October 2019 until it exceeded 130 services in June 2022 provided by more than 30 agencies from the public and private sectors.

UAE are investing heavily in ICT as they seek to diversify their economies, build up a knowledge economy and reduce their reliance on oil and gas. In Dubai, the Dubai Smart City initiative aims to transform the emirate into a leading global smart city over the next few years. The strategy includes over 100 initiatives and a plan to transform 1000 government services into smart services. According to Cisco, Dubai’s public and private sector IT market is valued at Dh17.9bn ($4.87bn) over the next five years, including a public sector opportunity of Dh4.3bn ($1.17bn).

The initiative aims to encourage collaboration between the public and private sectors to achieve targets in six key pillars: smart life, smart transportation, smart society, smart economy, smart governance and smart environment. These areas will be brought together on a single connected, integrated and collaborative smart city platform, with input from the government agencies, businesses and Dubai’s citizens.

One of the most technologically advanced cities in the world will collaborate with DMT on various smart city projects

UAE capital Abu Dhabi and China’s Shenzhen have signed a Twin City agreement, under which both parties will share knowledge and collaborate on smart city projects across multiple areas.

These include infrastructure, city planning, green mobility, transportation, advanced technology, autonomous solutions, sustainability, and urban development.

Abu Dhabi’s digital economy will be boosted through the launch of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud infrastructure region in the UAE, as part of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s (ADIO) efforts to attract investments that build technology capabilities.

The arrival of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region in the first half of 2022 will accelerate cloud adoption and empower organisations to innovate faster. It will further enhance the access organisations have to advanced technologies from the world’s leading cloud services provider, helping them to innovate and digitally transform across Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE.

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) has launched 27 new electronic judicial services for the public at GITEX Technology Week. The new services, which are available through the ADJD website, greatly enhance ADJD’s customer service through a comprehensive suite of electronic services that covers all of its divisions, administrations and sections.

Wyakom’s first phase will focus on community in Khalifa City suburb

The Department of Community Development (DCD) in Abu Dhabi has launched Wyakom, an online platform that will empower members of the community to address pressing social challenges.

The first phase of this pilot project, in partnership with Al Tawajud Al Baladi, a centre run by the Abu Dhabi City Municipality, will focus on the Khalifa City community. The platform will invite Khalifa City residents to identify solutions to specific social challenges according to set of criteria.

Congratulatory messages have been pouring in for General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, after a UAE initiative won a prestigious e-Government award.

Shaikh Mohammad most recently received a congratulatory message from Won Soon Park, the mayor of Seoul, who lauded the initiative during the recently concluded first World e-Governments Organisation of Cities and Local Governments (WeGO) Awards 2012 in Barcelona.

Abu Dhabi has emerged among the top three fastest 5G capitals in the world, according to the latest data from Ookla, a global fixed broadband and mobile network testing applications, data and analysis firm.

The UAE capital has the fastest median download speeds (421.26Mbps) in the first half of 2021.

In recognition of its efforts in implementing Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and driving the cooperative use of geospatial information across a wide range of Government entities in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi e-Government has received the inaugural “2015 Smart Government Award” launched by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) User Conference, held in San Diego, California in the United States from 20 - 21 July.

The two-day knowledge sharing event set the stage for representatives from different government bodies to attend workshops, exchange insights and leverage experiences with GIS organisations and professionals.

The launch of this service comes as part of a strategic plan aimed at widening the scope of e-services offering, better service to community members, and provision of ultra modern services enabling customers and the public access to municipal services in parks and recreational facilities across Abu Dhabi.

The rise of business opportunities in Asia, coupled with a growing digital society, has wired up not simply markets and private companies, but governments across the region. Empowering citizens, investors and businesses through seamless connections and innovative services, Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC) is improving its capacity-building initiatives to offer a smart government that can efficiently serve its citizens and customer bases in Asia and worldwide.

"We're not just focusing on the technology, but we are putting in place people who are capable of handling and using the technology," says ADSIC director general Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori. "The pillars of human capital, infrastructure, awareness and governance allow us to move forward. All initiatives happening in Abu Dhabi apply a leadership thought to cope with changes globally."

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have proven to be a key factor in helping residents and businesses across the UAE adapt to the new reality of functioning during a pandemic, with experts noting that the rate of adoption of the technology will only accelerate in the coming years.

Jackson Liu, head of the Middle East, North Africa and Europe region at BIGO Technology, told Khaleej Times that AI has been applied widely across the UAE during the Covid-19 outbreak to enhance connectivity such as with chatbots to improve customer service, as well as increasing the efficiency and intelligence of video conferencing platforms and more.

Effective from the beginning of the year 2017, all cars registered in Ajman will be renewed using the smart service and motorists will not have to visit the police centre for renewal.

This comes as part of the ambitious plan of Ajman Police turning its services into e-government, thus accomplishing the transactions of clients in less time and effort.

Ahmed Bin Humaidan, director-general of Dubai eGovernment, said, “Flashes of Inspiration by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is an embodiment of his visions as it contains a summary of his experiences and convictions, as well as his conceptions of the future of our beloved country. We at Dubai eGovernment are keen on briefing our employees on the prudent leadership’s vision for upgrading government services. The book is a roadmap that can be used to develop their abilities and enhance their experiences with the aim of keeping pace with HH Sheikh Mohammed’s aspirations for enhancing the position of our country worldwide.”

The new feature encourages customers to use and adopt Dewa’s eServices, which will save time and effort as transactions can be accomplished electronically without visiting customer service centres.

Through this service, Dewa will provide easier and more convenient services to the highest international standards and support sustainable development.

The initiative is part of a UAE-wide effort to make the country's e-government services available across mobile devices, thereby creating a ‘smart government'. BlackBerry's contribution to this will be to provide support and expertise in the development of a Mobile Centre of Excellence.