12 smart months of
mGov’s life…
Hamad Al Mansouri
mGovernment Director General
On
May 22, 2013, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice
President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may Allah save
him, launched the mGovernment initiative, which sought to provide services to the public
wherever they were round the clock. He underlined the necessity to develop and up-
grade government services and make them close to citizens.
The features of the mGovernment were given in a number of points including: “Gov-
ernment that does not sleep; works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; as hospitable as
hotels; quick in processing its interactions; strong in its procedures; responds quickly to
changes; devises solutions for all challenges; improves the quality of life and helps peo-
ple achieve their happiness; government that contributes to consolidating the lead of the
UAE in terms of electronic evolution and keeping pace with the world’s best practices.
On October 1, 2013, the first issue of the mGovernment Magazine was released to shed
light on this transformation to be witnessed by the various federal and local entities of
the UAE government from an electronic government to a smart government closer to citi-
zens. In this first issue of mGovernment Magazine, we emphasized that this magazine
is from you and to you and also asked you to take part in editing the magazine. Actually,
you proved to be the best partner, thanks to your feedback and your great interaction
with our published topics and raised issues, which was beyond our expectations.
Over the past 12 smart months of the magazine’s life we succeeded in shedding light
on many issues and topics in the fields of technology, information and communication
technology, smart phone and tablet software and apps and the latest smart government
apps. We spared no effort whatsoever to develop the magazine one issue after another,
at all editing, technical and strategic levels, while your participation helped us add new
sections that did not exist in the first issues of the magazine including, most importantly,
the interactive pages, which rendered us closer to you, dear reader.
We are proud that we are the first magazine in the Middle East in the field of interactive
journalism through our analyses, opinion polls and written and audio-visual surveys,
where our editors record pictorial views that readers can access by scanning through
the QR service, enabling all the pages of the magazine to become more interactive with
readers and keep pace with the mission and objectives of the magazine, which seeks to
promote the smart transformation culture.
The interactive pages were not limited only to analyses, opinion polls and surveys but
expanded to include a range of other sections and chapters including a section titled
“QR”, which featured a number of videos on YouTube for selected topics for readers.
We have also other sections that go side by side with the smooth transition from eGov-
ernment to mGovernment including the lab.com section, through which the website of
a federal or local government entity is fully analyzed in each issue, so that the pros and
cons of the website are given by experts and specialists in a fully transparent manner,
thereby helping the various entities fulfill their missions and bolster their objectives.
In addition, there are pages for smart apps; dialogue, analysis and opinion; monthly
competition; local news; global news; press reports; opinion polls and surveys; figures;
and special reports and studies exclusively published by the magazine.
It is always emphasized that the slogan of the mGovernment Magazine is “From you and
to you” and hence we welcome your suggestions, feedback and contributions following
one full year of the magazine’s life during which we raised HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin
Rashid Al Maktoum’s slogan “we do not sleep, work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
With the beginning of the second year of the magazine life, we promise to keep you
abreast of all developments.
