Smart Dubai chosen to co-chair UN’s ITU working group

Dubai / WAM

Smart Dubai, the government office leading Dubai’s smart city transformation, has been selected by the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to co-chair the global Working Group on Data Economy, Commercialisation and Monetisation.
The announcement was made at the ITU’s meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Union, as the UN’s main body handling information and communications technology (ICT) launched the broader Focus Group on Data Processing and Management, which includes under its aegis the Working Group Smart Dubai was selected to lead.
The Focus Group is a global initiative that seeks to address a spectrum of well-defined topics around data management, covering various aspects, such as use cases and success stories involving data, frameworks for managing, securing and optimally utilising data, data sharing, architecture, security and privacy, as well as the overall data economy and its impact on the economy in different sectors.
“This nomination by an influential UN agency to spearhead efforts and projects relating to the data economy is a testament to Smart Dubai’s success in establishing a solid data governance and management in Dubai,” said SDO’s Director-General, Dr Aisha bint Butti bin Bishr. “This comes on the heels of the UN’s recent decision to select Dubai as a regional hub for
city data in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, MENASA, region.”
“Smart Dubai has launched the most iron-clad, comprehensive data initiative in the world and we’ve made great strides in implementing it,” Dr bin Bishr added. “We now offer Dubai’s residents and visitors an array of smart, data-based services and platforms that make their lives and work easier and more enjoyable. This plays into our strategic objectives to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world, and will also help us assume a thought-leadership role in data management on a global scale.”