Mohammed Bin Rashid (MBRSG) School
of Government, in partnership with UAE
Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, launched a
case study on the “UAE National Brain-
storming Session” experiment in frame-
work of the GCC Government Social Me-
dia Summit hosted in Dubai.
The study draft by the Governance and
Innovation Program at MBRSG reviews
the UAE National Brainstorming Session
called for by His Highness Sheikh Mo-
hammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE
Vice-President and Prime Minister and
Ruler of Dubai, on 3 December 2013.
This study documents the first-ever global
event, with regard to its scope and sheer
volume of inputs, outputs and expected
outcomes. It also attempts to draw les-
sons to learn from the experiment with the
aim to help develop and improve it and
promote its advantages.
Primarily, the case study aimed to under-
stand the current utilization patterns by the
UAE Government of its solid information
and communication technology (ICT) in-
frastructure, and social media tools spe-
cifically, for the purpose of enhancing the
service delivery process and governance.
The study also seeks to analyse the phas-
es of the event, which engaged people
from various walks of life in the process
of service development in the UAE. More-
over, the study highlights the innovative
nature of this technology-based experi-
ment, in order to draw conclusions and
lessons within national and regional con-
text.
According to the study, the massive so-
cio-technological transformations that
took place in the UAE over the past two
decades have effectively flattened infor-
mational hierarchies, changed trust mod-
els both in society and between citizens
and government, re-defined some soci-
etal leadership characteristics and trans-
formed the landscape of public service
significantly.
The penetration of social media in the
UAE has been continuously increasing
reaching around 60% of the population.
With such critical mass of avid users of
social networking technologies, the gov-
ernment started to actively take advan-
tage of this opportunity. The government
reached a realization today that it needs
to proactively engage citizens and partner
with societal structures, to find innovative
ways for delivering public services.
The study shows that the experiment suc-
ceeded in collecting a sheer volume of
idea, solutions and information and con-
stituted a technology-based citizen en-
gagement platform that enabled effective
communication between the government
and society. The ultimate goal of the ex-
periment was to engage citizens for better
governance and public services.
The ideals and objectives of the UAE
brainstorming process are fully aligned
with the stated vision of the government.
Building a nation that is ‘united in respon-
sibility, destiny, knowledge and prosper-
ity’ is at the core of the official UAE vision
2021.
The case study highlights the impact of
the utilization of social media tools for
better governance and public services.
It pointed out that an ideal manifestation
of the significant role and impact of social
media tools are the tweets initiated by His
Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, initiated on his Twitter ac-
count.
At the wider level, the impact of the brain-
storming session on citizen satisfaction
about public education and healthcare
services are yet to be measured. How-
ever, it is safe to say that the public now
feels ownership as these vital services are
being developed inclusively.
What the brainstorming session dem-
onstrated is that the public is willing to
positively react and contribute to the gov-
ernment decision-making process. The
government came to realize that this en-
gagement widens its perspective and
helps it understand better and make sense
of the real perceptions of the people on in-
dividual and community levels.
The study lists several conclusions drawn
from the first-ever national brainstorming
initiative to take place in the country. To
transform this experience into a govern-
ment wide mode of operation, the lessons
extracted from this experience may prove
useful for similar future initiatives such as
planning, resources allocation, particular-
ly under the magnitude of the response,
the need for advanced big data tools in
the collection and analysis of information,
segmentation for better ideation and sus-
tainable citizen engagement to maintain
long-term benefit beyond the hype of the
success of the initiative.
A Case Study on Outcomes of the UAE
National Brainstorming Session
23
October
2014
