Our wise leadership has long aspired to firmly establish the UAE as a world leader in the industries of the future. With that in mind, the country wasted no time in boldly adopting cutting-edge technologies in their early stages and trailblazing ahead with innovative and highly effective implementations. 

One such technology is Blockchain; as the rest of the world continues to reluctantly approach the technology, the UAE (and particularly, Dubai) took the forward-thinking approach and broke ground on the bold – yet carefully calculated – Dubai Blockchain Strategy. The Emirate aspires to become the first government in the world to forego paper transactions altogether and execute the entirety of its transactions through Blockchain technology by 2021. The strategy was launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF).

Furthermore, we are currently working on another path-breaking, world-leading initiative, issuing the first set of standards for employing Blockchain technology in government. All of this ultimately brings us closer to achieving the key objective and prime focus of our government: to make our people the happiest on the planet.

Technological development is not our end; it is a means for us to realise our ambitions. Any organisation can develop its technological capacities: given the necessary resources, it can simply acquire the technology in question. Our motive here, however, is to put this technology at the service of human beings, to allow them to live their best lives and spread happiness among them.

Dubai has recently held the Global Blockchain Challenge, through which we sought to offer a glimpse and a roadmap to the endless opportunities that this technology can offer. The turnout was nothing short of spectacular: hundreds of start-ups came forward with ideas to implement the technology in various strategic sectors. In the end, 21 of them (from 18 cities and 15 countries) reached the final round. 

The event allowed us to introduce the world to a sampling of the immense potential this technology has to improve human life. Its applications cover such diverse sectors as clean energy, education, financial transactions and commodities, to name but a few. 

We are confident that, by employing Blockchain in various sectors, Dubai will edge even closer to its stated strategic objective of becoming the smartest and happiest city in the world. The technology also stands to significantly boost the economy: analysts project the global Blockchain market to be worth $290 billion by 2019.

The Emirate of Dubai has set its sights on becoming an unrivalled world leader in Blockchain technology. To that end, the local government is working closely with all of its departments, as well as organisations across a multitude of sectors, directing their efforts to refine and upgrade government services to meet and exceed international standards – especially when it comes to seamless access; economising time, effort and money; and, ultimately, unprecedented customer satisfaction.

We were pioneers, in the region and the world, with our e-government initiative, before surpassing it with our smart government project and the Government of the Future. We do not believe in limits to achievement and excellence – the only things needed to succeed are determination and hard work.