HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) inaugurated the 9th Annual Innovation and the Future Conference, which DEWA organised under the theme ‘Shaping the Future of the Next 50 Years’. Emirati Astronauts Hazzaa AlMansoori and Sultan AlNeyadi; Henrick von Scheel, the Originator of Industry 4.0; Chris Huff, Chief Strategy Officer, Kofax; and Arnold Gutmann, Senior Executive Partner, Gartner, took part in the conference. A number of innovators discussed topics related to shaping the future of the next 50 years, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and top technology trends for the future, among other topics.
The conference was attended by HE Dr. Hamad bin Sheikh Ahmed Al Shaibani, Director General of the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai; HE Ahmed Julfar, Director General of Dubai Community Development Authority (CDA); HE Khalifa Al Darai, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services (DCAS); HE Dr. Abdulla Al Karam, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA); HE Ahmed Buti Al Muhairbi, Secretary General of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; HE Abdulla bin Kalban, MD & CEO of Emirates Global Aluminium; HE Dirar Belhoul Al Falasi, Member of the Federal National Council and Director General of Watani Al Emarat Foundation; DEWA’s Executive Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents, and a large number of staff.
In his keynote speech, Al Tayer noted that DEWA’s annual Innovation and the Future Conference supports its commitment to place innovation at the top of its priorities to achieve the government plans and strategies. These include the National Innovation Strategy to make the UAE one of the most innovative countries in the world and embark on a new phase that promotes innovation among individuals, businesses, and the public sector. It also aims to focus on sectors that will lead innovation in the future, including renewable and clean energy.
Al Tayer noted that DEWA has institutionalised innovation across all its divisions and operations. This helped achieve competitive results surpassing international utilities. DEWA reduced losses from electricity transmission and distribution networks in 2019 to 3.2% compared to 6-7% in Europe and the USA. Water network losses were reduced to 6.6% compared to around 15% in North America. DEWA also achieved the lowest customer minutes lost per year (CML) in the world of 1.86 CML compared to around 15 minutes in Europe. The UAE, represented by DEWA, maintained its first place globally in Getting Electricity for the third consecutive year as per the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report, which measures the ease of doing business in 190 economies worldwide. Innovation also helped DEWA achieve the top position in Dubai Government in customer happiness in 2019 with 90.1%.
“Achieving results depends on innovation, adopting disruptive technologies, and keeping pace with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To support the Dubai 10X initiative, which mandates the Government of Dubai to be a global leader that is 10 years ahead of all other cities, we launched Digital DEWA, our digital arm, to reshape the concept of utilities and build a digital future for Dubai. We have started the Dubai 10X 2.0 to provide new services that inspire the world and enhance Dubai's position as a global capital for green economy. This includes ‘Green Airport as a Service’ in cooperation with Dubai Airports. It aims to develop new models for power generation at airports through an integrated and innovative system that uses solar energy, kinetic energy, energy resulting from sound, wind, and from the movement of aircraft, among other activities. It also includes ‘Green Road as a Service’ in cooperation with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority. This will turn the roads into power generation areas by harnessing solar and mechanical energy using the latest disruptive technologies,” said Al Tayer.
Al Tayer said that innovation has contributed to DEWA receiving the ISO 56002:2019 in Innovation Management, becoming the world’s first organisation to receive this certificate. DEWA also received ISO 30401: 2018 in Knowledge Management Systems; becoming the first utility in the world to receive this certification. DEWA won 17 awards at Ideas America 2019, the world's largest platform for sharing best practices and innovative ideas. It also won 7 awards in the 11th edition of the 2019 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards held recently in San Francisco, USA.
“We are proud of these achievements that DEWA has achieved with the help of our Emirati professionals. We pledge to our wise leadership to continue developing unique experiences that enhance the happiness of all stakeholders, especially customers, to contribute to making Dubai the happiest and smartest city in the world. We will also work to make this year, ‘2020: Towards the Next 50,’ the starting point for the UAE towards more progress, growth and prosperity, guided by the vision and directives of our wise leadership that not only anticipates the future, but also shapes it, and accepts nothing short of the first place in everything,” concluded Al Tayer.
The ‘Inspirational Session’ was delivered by Emirati astronauts Hazzaa AlMansoori and Sultan AlNeyadi who spoke about the Zayed’s ambitious mission to space. The second session titled ‘Navigating the accelerated rate of change with AI and automation’ was delivered by Chris Huff, Chief Strategy Officer of KOFAX. The third session titled ‘Industry 4.0: Shaping the Future of the Next 50 Years’ was delivered by Henrik von Scheel, originator of Industry 4.0. The fourth session titled ‘Top Technology Trends for the Future’ was delivered by Arnold Gutmann, Senior Executive Partner at Gartner.
At the conference, 20 Emirati youth were honoured as part of the Ambassadors of Innovation - Leaders of the Future Programme, which DEWA organised in cooperation with Watani Al Emarat Foundation. The programme supports the UAE’s efforts to empower young people through creativity and innovation, as well as volunteer work among DEWA’s employees.
