Dubai Dubai Police and the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) revealed a standard guide — like the ISO standards — for innovation, on which they have been working for almost four years.
Dr Abdul Quddus Abdul Razzaq Al Obaidli, Director of the General Department of Quality Management at Dubai Police, said the standard will be used to certify organisations that claim to be innovative.
“The new standard, which is a guide to managing innovation, lists the criteria and rules for an organisation to be considered ‘innovative’. The criteria has more than 60 points on which an organisation is assessed,” he said.
He added that this was the first Emirati standard of its kind, modelled on a similar UK standard BS 7000-1:2008.
Quality assurance companies that grant ISO certification can now start granting the new innovation certification.
Maj. Gen. Al Obaidli said that in 2011, an officer suggested the creation of this standard, and following approval from its leadership, Dubai Police teamed up with ESMA to create it in 2012.
A team consisting of five people from Dubai Police and three from ESMA then worked on the standard.
They had more than 25 meetings and came up with multiple drafts before it was made official.
“The draft was sent to different organizations to get their feedback and changes were made,” Maj Gen Al Obaidli said.
He said the innovation standard’s guidelines could act as a checklist for companies to base their innovation strategic planning on.
The standard is only recognised by the UAE, but he said that as soon as organisations start getting it, it will become internationally recognised.
“It is a great coincidence that the guide was completed during UAE’s innovation week,” he added.
