Dubai: The UAE government on Monday announced its action plan to adopt the recommendations of the 35 Global Future Councils.
“There have been a number of ideas and suggestions that came up during the meetings of the Global Future Councils meetings this week. These ideas need to be translated into an action plan to convert into concrete projects that can be implemented. As part of these efforts we have come up with six pillars to convert these into action plans and prepare ourselves for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future. The Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils 2016, meeting in Dubai this week, is part of the World Economic Forum.
The first pillar is that the UAE government will create the Fourth Industrial Revolution Council worldwide. This council will be directly under the stewardship of the UAE cabinet and will engage the private sector, the governments, the public and private sectors as well as civil society.
The second pillar is to collaborate with the World Economic Forum through the Global Future Councils to develop a global governance framework that will set the main principles and the legislative framework as well as regulations to implement technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and create an international market for new products and technologies in collaboration with government and private sector entities.
Impact of implementation
The third pillar is that the UAE government in association with the World Economic Forum will establish the Fourth Industrial Revolution Councils in order to provide consultations to decision makers worldwide. “These councils will study the impact of the implementation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies on the economies and knowledge systems. They will also determine opportunities for implementing these technologies on the main sectors in order to ensure that these will benefit, Al Gergawi said.
The fourth pillar is the launch of a special programme engaging the governments of the region in the network of the Global Future Councils in order to share experiences and exchange knowledge. This will include more than 5,000 experts, among them, academia, representatives of think tanks and public and private sectors.
The fifth pillar is that the UAE will be the first global laboratory for piloting, experimenting and implementing the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in order to expedite the process of creating international markets for products and technologies related to it.
“These efforts come on the back of the UAE’s commitments to a number of initiatives already taken for the future technologies such as the blockchain, intelligent mobility, 3D printing and artificial intelligence among others,” said Al Gergawi.
Preparedness of governance
The sixth pillar of the implementation plan is that the UAE government will be the first government working worldwide in adopting a framework for the preparedness of governance for the future as part of its National Agenda 2021 in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
Al Gergawi said the details of these six pillars will be announced during the coming weeks.
The Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils 2016 which concluded yesterday had brought together over 700 top thought leaders from the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Future Councils, comprised of 35 groups of experts from academia, business, civil society, international organisations and government.
Ideas generated at the Global Future Councils will that influence the future global, regional and industry agendas will be discussed at WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, in January 2017.
