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Shaikh Mohammad applauds during the presentation of the Dh1 million award in the university student category to University of Jazeera for its mobile application to distribute fortified food in the social affairs sector, at the Government Summit in Dubai on February 11, 2015. Image Credit: Virendra Saklani/Gulf News

Dubai: The third Government Summit ended in Dubai on Wednesday with the launch of new innovation initiatives for UAE schools and a multimillion-dirham award ceremony for best mobile government services.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, congratulated the participants, praising the event as the “summit of innovation, prosperity and success”.

Shaikh Mohammad awarded UAE, regional and international winners of the Best m-Government Services Award at the closing ceremony on Wednesday.

“This is the summit of success, the success of people who always move forward and do not know failure… It is where my brother [General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces] spoke,” he said.

Earlier in the day, announced Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of UAE and Minister of Presidential Affairs, announced that the UAE federal government is launching seven educational initiatives in schools and universities with the aim of promoting innovation.

He also announced the launch of a new government post, "Chief Executive Officer of Innovation", which will be set up in every government agency this year, to meet the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan directives, who announced 2015 as the year of innovation.

Timeline: Government Summit Day 3 updates

1.10pm: Shaikh Mansour outlines 7 initiatives

Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, talked about a future federal government project on a desert in Mars.

Excerpts:

Innovation is what makes country go forward, and 2015 is the year of innovation.
Innovation is what defines the future of our young generations. Happiness of the citizen is the ultimate goal of the UAE government.

We have envisioned 7 initiatives in our government and they all aim at innovations.

The first initiative is the robot laboratory in schools.

Second by developing the curricula related to innovations.

Third will add innovation as a basic criteria in assessing both private and public school.

Fourth will consist of a national exhibition for innovation. A yearly event that will include all universities, public and private.

Fifth is we will establish innovation incubators for university students and youth.

Sixth initiative will be the 'innovator of the future.' We will discover and find talents in the age of 5-7 and find students who are talented.

Seventh is a programme of support for innovators. Training camps will be established in the UAE dedicated to innovators and will include intensive training programs during the summer periods.

Medical robot has come to the UAE. The device is undertaking surgeries in the Al Qasimi hospital in the UAE. The interventions are being managed by an Emirati doctor.

12.50: Ibrahim Mahlab, Egypt PM

Ibrahim Mahlab, Prime Minister of Egypt thanked the UAE for all the support it has provided to Egypt's Government and people.

Dubai is the city of happiness, welfare, Secuirty and safety, he said.

Excerpts:
I am here to talk about the Egyptian experience. The people who have endeavoured to shape its future, and a government that is going along its people's demands to shape its future.

The country writing a new page in its history, culture and future. Egypt has started the reconstructing process. We believe in God and in our people.

Egypt's Legislative reform will prepare investment environment based on the environment law. It will activate the one-stop-shop principle and help projects and start ups," he said.

We must talk about fighting corruption and fighting cure option measures.

The Egyptian stock market has exceeded expectations.

We also expect that the deficit in GDP will be less than 10% instead of 14% compared to last year. All this confirms that we are on the right track.

We are hopeful for a better future and are determined to strongly face terrorism and terror. We want to secure safety and security for our country.

We hope to eradicate the roots of terrorism in the Arab world

 

11.30am Future cities of UAE will be more liveable

Future cities of the UAE will have to be more liveable and people friendly, purpose-built for the needs of the future generation, the first session of the final day at the Government summit heard.

Top government officials outlined their idea about smart and liveable cities that will see every inch of the space reviewed and redeveloped according to the needs of the next 50 years.

“We have roads, and streets designed more than 40 or 50 years ago, which cannot sustain the demands of the next 50 years, we will have to redevelop every inch of space on roads, communities, industrial clusters and reorganise traffic for the future,” said Falah Al Ahbabi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council.

 

He added that the usage of private vehicles should be regulated and public transport should be the primary mode of mobility in the cities.

Al Ahbabi along with Saeed Al Tayer, CEO and MD of Dubai Water and Electricity Authority (DEWA) and Hussain Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality, were sharing their thoughts at the first plenary session on Tuesday titled UAE Smart Cities Outlook.

Sharing the details of smart initiative in his field of expertise, Saeed Al Tayer said: “We have a target of reducing the power consumption by 30 per cent by the year 2030, this despite the fact that the population and the needs will grow. We are planning to achieve this through implementation of smart metre and smart grids, where consumers will be able to measure their real-time consumption and control the usage accordingly.”

He added: “In fact, through installation of solar panels at home, consumers will be able to sell surplus power back to DEWA.”

Shedding light on his central idea about future development, Hussain Lootah said that technology will take over the primary role of service but human beings should be real beneficiaries.

“We need to create liveable cities where people have all the facilities in a few minutes’ range. The distance between residences and work places shouldn’t be more than 20 minutes. To make that possible in Dubai we have to create data bases and smart tools,” said Hussain Lootah.

9.35am All service in 10 minutes

“We want to provide all services in no more than 10 seconds," Falah Al Ahbabi Director General of Abu Dhabi Urban planning council

Technology to take over

“Technology will take over and human beings will be the beneficiaries in a smart age,” Hussain Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality

 

 

9.25 Reducing number of cars in UAE

“We have to introduce laws that will reduce the number of cars in UAE," saidf Hussain Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality.

9.10am Reducing power wastage

"By 2030, Dubai will reduce the power consumption by 30 per cent," Saeed Al Tayer, CEO of Dewa.

Dubai has only 3.5 per cent of power wastage, which is one of the best in the world, he said.

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Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News
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