جائزة
Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs
and Chairman of the committee organizing the Gov
-
ernment Summit congratulated the winners of the
Best mGovernment Service Award and stressed
the importance of student participation, which
comes in line with the instructions of His Highness
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to allocate one of
the Award’s categories for UAE university students.
This springs from his belief in the youth potential
and creative capabilities and their active role in
drawing the present and future.
Al Gergawi pointed out that the award drew inter-
national, Arab and local participation that exceeded
expectations, which affirms the position of the UAE
as a leading global model in innovation and best
practices in providing excellent and innovative gov
-
ernment services. He indicated that expanding the
scope of participation reflects keenness to spread
benefit and distinguished service experiences to
the region and the entire world.
Local and federal winners
Five federal entities were qualified to the Best
mGovernment Service Award namely Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, General Authority of Islamic Affairs
and Endowments, Ministry of Education, Ministry of
Environment and Water and Ministry of Interior.
The emirate of Abu Dhabi won the Best mGovern-
ment Service Award for local governments in the
UAE for its Abu Dhabi Taxi app for the Centre of
Regulation of Transport by Hire Cars. Dubai was
also a winner for its Dubai Police app. The app pro-
vides eServices in Arabic and English such as traf-
fic, security and community services.
Ras Al Khaimah also won an award for its RAKPAY-
RAK Mobile Payment Gateway, which allows the
payment of Etisalat bills, and payment of water and
electricity bills and obtaining work permits in the
emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.
Ajman was also a winner for its MPDA app by its
Municipality and Planning Department which allows
quick and easy communication with its customers.
Fujairah took home an award for its Smart Fujairah
app by Fujairah Municipality, which is a gateway for
its services. It allows all customers of Fujairah mu-
nicipality to access its services in a simple way at
any given time and from anywhere. The emirate of
Sharjah won for its Sharjah DPW app by the De-
partment of Public Works. The app offers informa-
tion and services to individuals and businesses in
a seamless and safe manner by creating an addi-
tional communication channel based on high qual
-
ity standards that save time, effort and money for
users via mobile phones.
Khalifa University won first and second place in the
Award’s university student category, winning one
million dirhams, for its IQ app, an integrated sys-
tem designed to avoid queuing in person in the ser
-
vice centre. It also won second place for the health
app which came in cooperation with the Ministry of
Health and provides a complete guide to the Min-
istry. It offers all the Ministry’s services and allows
direct interaction with it through submitting applica-
tions and completing transactions.
An honorary award was given to an academic insti-
tution that offered the most number of smart apps,
which was the Higher Colleges of Technology.
On the GCC level, OMCI by the Ministry of Com
-
merce and Industry in Kuwait was the winner as
it provides a communication channel between the
Kuwaiti nationals and the Kuwaiti Ministry of Com
-
merce and Industry.
On the international level, three agencies from three
countries qualified to this award namely Denmark
represented by the Denmark Province Society,
South Korea represented by the Tourism Agency
in Seoul and the Land Transport Authority in Sin-
gapore which won the award for its app for public
transport services in Singapore.
Al Gergawi said that there was a total number of
260 apps that participated in the award, more than
200 apps were selected to qualify. The Jury recom
-
mended apps from each category to qualify to the
finals and compete for winning the award.
There were 26 international apps, with the United
States participating with 5 apps followed by South
Korea with 4 apps, Australia with 3 apps and Ger
-
many with 2 apps.
There was also significant participation from Arab
apps with a total of 42 apps from the majority of
Arab countries, with 12 apps from Saudi Arabia, 7
apps from Oman, 6 apps from Qatar, 5 apps from
Lebanon, 3 apps from Bahrain and 3 apps from Jor
-
dan. Six apps from Kuwait, Morocco and Egypt won
the award, two apps from each country.
5
March
2014
