Data moments

Data path

Yunus Al Nasser

August 26, 2020

Between the past and the present there are several points of convergence, which is what made people borrow names for events and projects that formed a milestone in human history, and repeat them in the present era to reflect their connotations, including an example of a metaphor, the name “Digital Silk Road” that will connect the world digitally after the Silk Road trade which was Trade connects both ends of the world.

But in these "data moments", I will not talk here about the history of trade or the history of digital transformation, but rather through an alternative that, in my opinion, is among the most effective and fastest, to reach real goals within a record time, especially in the new natural world that the new Corona virus pandemic has generated. And while most of the countries in the world are still searching for a way to recover and return to normal life, and no one can yet say that he owns the equation, I see before us a new path that I want to call "the data path".

I was born with this name, and I think deeply about the challenges facing humanity today, and how cities and countries that had a more mature digital experience, their strategic data available digitally, and their services available through applications and platforms, were the most capable of restarting a digital version of the course of life, But the world and life in its new form, this will not suffice them. Rather, we need to create a new understanding that resembles the challenges and the new reality created by "Covid-19".

For me, the shortest point between recovering from any challenge facing any sector in the world today, and the future of achieving the goals that any institution or government wants to achieve, is through deep understanding and abundance of data for that sector, by organizing, classifying and analyzing them according to the best Standards and controls, which we have achieved in Dubai, practical steps in which I am confident. This was by defining the roles between the various partners, by working to create an added value from the city’s data, reflecting on its experiences, and inspiring people and institutions a renewed reality.

The data road is full of opportunities, and these opportunities specifically based on what we have found include: Whoever owns data owns the future, data is the key to efficiency and effectiveness, and it is the basis for enabling smart decision-making, and it improves the ability to predict the future and its economic value, and who has the ability to employ Data is the fuel of the future.

In order to reap the benefits of these opportunities, we have set in Dubai strategic pillars that included: data governance, including Dubai data policies, ethics for artificial intelligence, building the Dubai Pulse platform, developing a city plan and its infrastructure, a data decentralization project, and creating an enabling work environment for city data, That builds value from data, by identifying the highest priority use cases, and supporting intelligent decision.

I am not saying that the data road is empty and easy. On the contrary, it is crowded, but it is a special congestion, as it is an abundance of opportunities and challenges.

To bring the picture closer, studies expect that the volume of data per day by 2025 will reach about 463 exabytes, equivalent to 35 thousand billion images, and 10 thousand billion video hours, which will be data that will be generated from every part in the lives of institutions and individuals in multiple forms, and because our leadership is in the UAE Usually, every challenge has an opportunity, the data road is paved with opportunity.

- Assistant General Manager of Smart Dubai, Executive Director of Dubai Data Corporation

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