It's been two decades since Dubai made its first foray into Digitization.
Also known as the 'City of the Future,' Dubai has, over the years, continued nurturing ecosystems that thrive on innovation and disruption, which synchronously bolsters transformation. In 2014, the Dubai smart initiative was instituted; this initiative preceded the blockchain provenance in the city with continued research to decipher the advanced and emerging technologies that would go on to help Dubai pioneer cutting-edge innovative services.
Dubai took the smart city Blockchain project from an experienced perspective; in contrast to the individual approach, Dubai launched the blockchain project focusing on three elements. The first step is to migrate all applicable government services to Blockchain and run them on it entirely. The second component supports building a Blockchain industry in Dubai by attracting startups and entrepreneurs. The third is transferring the government services to the Blockchain industry.
Blockchain implementation has gone beyond borders and the status quo to become a societal augmenter in this city. This impact has proliferated into the real estate sector, having health and educational records on top of Blockchain, thereby evoking efficiency from a mediated to a disintermediated system making generic experiences more personalized, seamless, efficient, and impactful.
Last year, His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, officially declared the beginning of a new stage on a journey to digitize life in all parts of the economy by leaning towards Blockchain use.
The Strategy
Dubai initiated its vision of becoming the happiest and most sustainable city using the Emirates Blockchain strategy 2021 and the Dubai Blockchain Strategy. The former helped migrate 50 percent of government transactions onto the blockchain platform, while the latter helped gravitate the city's operations towards Blockchain.
Dubai employed these proactive strategies, where it executed 24 blockchain use cases covering eight main sectors: commerce, real estate, transportation, security, health, finance, education, and tourism. Dubai worked on these projects by homogenizing the government and private sector players' efforts.
This Blockchain platform was inaugurated in coalition with IBM and Smart Dubai to enable numerous organizations and government parastatals to build blockchain-enabled networks across complex use cases without investing in individual infrastructures.
Such assertive strategies helped Dubai usher in economic opportunities for all sectors in the city, and cement Dubai's reputation as a global technology leader, in line with the "Smart Dubai" mandate to become a global leader in the innovative economy, fueling entrepreneurship and global competitiveness.
Owing to this innovation, Dubai is today home to over 100 blockchain businesses, has seen a 24 percent increase in the use of Blockchain as compared to the global average of 19 percent, and expects to have more than 1000 blockchain businesses in the foreseeable future hence the name 'Blockchain city.'
Through summits and hosted Blockchain events, Dubai city's blockchain learnings have been compiled and shared with the public to benefit cities worldwide.
What Does This Mean for Dubai Citizens/Residents?
The incorporation of Blockchain into the city of Dubai espouses economic importance. This innovation, if quintessentially maintained, means the citizens and residents would inadvertently experience an upgrade in performing a once-cumbersome process that is time-consuming and requires intermediate governmental involvement to a process that is fast, reliable, efficient, and frictionless.
At Long Last…
This priceless decision made Dubai a flagbearer for the next generation of visionaries in a borderless world of unprecedented choice. With uncompromising credibility and unparalleled connectivity, it's safe to say Dubai is a global nexus providing an excellent test for innovators, transformers, and disruptors.
Contrary to popular misconception, utilizing Blockchain's capabilities does not jeopardize government functions and regulations. Blockchain enables high authentication and security at a rapid rate, fulfilling the two fundamental tasks of government: authenticating transactions and providing proper encryption or security of these transactions.
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