Dubai lays out its data policies

Dubai Data Establishment in collaboration with Supreme Legislation Committee (SLC) launched the Dubai Data Policies earlier this month. The policies are meant to organise the publishing and sharing of data as a key component of Dubai’s digital wealth, and to maximise data’s real positive economic potential.

Apart from collaboration with Dubai’s Supreme Legislation Committee, Dubai Data Establishment also engaged with  number of government and private-sector partners to support the opening and sharing of data, namely: Data Classification, Data Protection, Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Data Use and Reuse, and Technical Standards. Now the policies clearly outline a set of provisions for the classification, publishing, exchange, use and reuse of data, as well as for protecting the privacy of data and individuals, and protecting copyrights.

His Excellency (H.E.) Ahmed bin Meshar Al Muhairi, Secretary General of the Supreme Legislation Committee (SLC) stressed on the importance of the policy, sharing that it is a key pillar in the efforts to enhance capabilities related to the dissemination, transmission and exchange of data—which is considered to be at the core of intelligent transformation. This new policy also complements Dubai Data Law, which sets a solid foundation for the direction of an all-inclusive data system that organizes the collection and exchange of city information to build a competitive economy based on knowledge and innovation data management.

H.E. Younus Al Nasser explained: “The policies we launch at Smart Dubai aim to protect data in the emirate, which is the cornerstone of the smart cities of the future. Furthermore, they help amplify the economic impact of data, which is expected to reach AED10.4 billion per year as of 2021, according to the Dubai Data Economic Impact Report prepared by international audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG. The same report revealed that by opening and sharing 100% of government data, Dubai stands to generate an additional value of $6.6 billion.”

“These policies set another milestone in Dubai’s journey towards emboldening the opening and sharing of its data, in addition to empowering the deployment of artificial intelligence, which is the foundation upon which all services, sectors and future infrastructure will rely,” H.E. added.