Open Government Data..
Smart government and cities
Dr. Saeed Khalfan Al Dhahri
Minister’s Advisor for Information Systems
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Open
Government Data (OGD) is the fuel for digital economy
and the basis for leveraging public and private services.
Government transparency relatively increases based on the amount of open
data it shares with individuals and businesses, leading thereby to creation of
innovative and creative government services.
Realizing the importance of sharing data with the community, our prudent
leadership, like many other governments, launched OGD initiatives and de
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veloped a portal for the purpose.
OGD is defined as data produced by government that can be shared, reused
and redistributed by anyone provided the data source is mentioned. Data
should be presented in a measureable, machine processible format, acces-
sible and processible by eGovernment programs.
Open data may include data related to health, education, transport, agricul-
ture and employment sectors, as well as geographical, climatic, products’
prices and economic data.
OGD initiatives play a key role in transitioning into smart governments and
cities. It is an innovation engine allowing the public to interact with govern-
ment to find new data that might be valuable for operations when analysed
or reproduced.
OGD allows individuals and organizations to innovate, develop existing and
new smart applications. It serves economic growth, creation of new markets
and job opportunities, spurs entrepreneurship by encouraging establishment
of smart apps development companies, or influencing SMEs to participate in
developing smart apps using OGD.
UAE’s open data can be accessed through government.ae under ‘OGD’.
The portal currently comprises around 143 data sets about Ministries of Edu
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cation, Health, and Interior, and the National Bureau of Statistics.
Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) has urged UAE’s govern
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ment agencies to make their data open and easily accessible through their
websites. TRA also issued open data guidelines, setting criteria and features
to be followed by government agencies when adopting an open data policy.
Success of such initiatives requires overcoming challenges, developing a
strategy that complies with government’s agenda, setting out a clear action
plan and striving to boost the culture of open data among government agen-
cies. It also necessitates raising awareness of the value of OGD, encourag
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ing the public to use it and thus create a system that effectively contributes
to economic growth based on sharing, creativity and innovation.
