INTERVIEW-UAE’s Smartworld building technology and digital infrastructure

UAE's Smartworld is best known for its work outfitting the technology infrastructure for Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai. Smartworld Chairman Dr. Saeed K. Al Dhaheri tells Salaam Gateway how such large-scale digital and technology infrastructure projects have helped the company support small and medium-sized enterprises as well, and shares his insights on what the Arab world is doing to become technology and knowledge leaders.

Salaam Gateway: Smartworld is arguably best known for your work outfitting the technology infrastructure for Al Maktoum airport in Dubai. How have such large-scale digital and technology infrastructure projects helped small and medium-sized enterprises in Dubai and the UAE?

Dr. Saeed K. Al Dhaheri: Dubai airport is one of the leading global airports and therefore has world class and complex systems.  Smartworld has been responsible as the ICT Systems integrator to make sure these independent systems have been updated and can talk together to enable the airport to be managed effectively.  The experience gained doing this means Smartworld has built up a set of skilled resources internally.  This skill set can now be applied to any sector in the UAE and we have used this experience and expertise in developing and implementing solutions for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Salaam Gateway: Beyond content and subject matter, do you see any major distinction between the Islamic digital economy and the (non-Islamic) digital economy with regards processes, operations, and business models?

Dr. Saeed K. Al Dhaheri: I can see major differences between the two with regards to processes and business models. Let us first consider processes: In the Islamic digital economy, the processes of any Islamic digital service; especially Islamic finance services, are required to be validated by Muslim scholars to ensure Shariah compliance so that it can be trusted by consumers. This does not exist in the traditional (non-Islamic) digital economy.

With regards to business models, the Islamic digital business model has to comply as well with Islamic principles and ensure it is an interest-free model and comply to Shariah. That’s why I believe that Islamic digital products and services have to be developed from scratch because some of the underlying principles differ from those of the traditional digital economy products and services.  

Salaam Gateway: Give us an example of how smart (or revolutionary technologies) have changed the business model of an Islamic economy business.

Dr. Saeed K. Al Dhaheri: Take for example zakat collection where Muslims used to go to zakat collection agencies to pay their zakat, but with the technological advances and adoption of smart government here in UAE and in other GCC and MENA countries, zakat payment and collection became a click away with mobile apps integrating important features and functions with secure digital payment and using ID card number for customer identification. This is not only a major simplification to the business of zakat collection but also encourages Muslims to pay their zakat on time.

Salaam Gateway: What is the level of infrastructure readiness of the countries in the Middle East to enable smart technologies (or even revolutionary technologies) to move the Islamic Economy forward?

Dr. Saeed K. Al Dhaheri: Generally, MENA countries have comparably good digital infrastructure, according to a recent Deloitte report (“Digital Islamic Services Landscape”) to allow for the Islamic digital economy to flourish, but, according to the report, there is a big gap in technology readiness between the MENA countries. For example, the UAE and other GCC countries have increasing technology readiness and a solid digital infrastructure using high speed Internet connectivity of fiber-to-the-home and 4G mobile network and the highest smart phone penetration in the world, whereas in other MENA countries (which have bigger Muslim populations) land connectivity is considered low and mainly connectivity is offered through 2G and 3G mobile networks.

Salaam Gateway: Are there concrete steps and initiatives in place to move Middle Eastern economies from being recipients of knowledge transfer to innovation to becoming technology and knowledge leaders?

Dr. Saeed K. Al Dhaheri: Efforts in this direction are very limited to what UAE is doing to become an innovation hub, not only in the Middle East, but globally recognized as well. In 2014 UAE announced its national innovation strategy which aims to position the country as a leading nation in the world for innovation. Thereafter serious efforts in this direction have progressed through the new vision of HH. Sheikh Mohammd bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE vice president and prime minister and ruler of Dubai, to put UAE economy on the path to become a globally recognized knowledge economy when he announced in October 2014 to invest AED 4.5 billion to transform Dubai’s Internet City and Media City into a global powerhouse for innovation, media and content.  

This includes establishing a new fund to support innovation-led projects, creating innovation incubators and innovation labs. Other initiatives announced in Dubai also include the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Center (DIEDC) that was created to position Dubai as the capital of Islamic Economy and the world leader in the Islamic digital economy. Also, UAE has established a local and international award to promote innovation in technology, such as the “Drones for Good Award” and the “Robotics for Good Award”.

Abu Dhabi, through its Technology Development Committee (TDC) is focusing on development of human capital in the science and technology sector. By creating a skilled innovative workforce to drive the UAE’s knowledge-based economy, TDC is playing a crucial role in enabling the realization of the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision and the UAE Innovation Strategy.

Also, it is worth mentioning other GCC efforts in this direction such as the new knowledge-based industry clusters that have emerged, such as the education cluster in Qatar. We have also seen universities created (e.g KAUST) where innovation in technology is a prime focus.

Salaam Gateway: What do you hope to see happen in the area of ICT for the Middle East in the next five years and what are the biggest priority areas to overcome in order to succeed?

Dr. Saeed K. Al Dhaheri: I hope to see more ICT start-ups in the region to offer innovative digital services. This can be achieved in one way by creating partnerships (through Public-Private Partnerships, PPP), and also encouraging venture capitals and private investors to establish ICT funds to fund new start-up businesses.

I believe that innovation flourishes through digital start-ups which sometimes disrupts traditional business models and bring new digital services that no one had ever thought about.

Also, I would like to see more open data projects and portals to encourage civic participation and promote apps. This needs government intervention in terms of setting policy for public and private sector to open up and share their data.

Another important area is to focus on ICT education and training to fill the gap in expertise in the region. The new digital initiatives now rely more on big data and analytics to provide valuable insights for businesses to gain competitive advantages, and this requires special talents and skills that are required in new job roles, such as data scientists.

Awareness campaigns are needed at high schools and universities to encourage more students to specialize in ICT areas and STEM subjects (STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

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