Diplomatic World 67

luxury hotels with state-of-the-art equipment. Occupancy is low,
but again this is an investment in the future. They want to double
their population in just a few years and encourage all kinds of
tourism, including medical tourism. That is why they are now
trying to attract the best consultants with the best hospitals and
the latest equipment. They also see their state-of-the-art hospitals
as a new generation of training centres for the consultants
of tomorrow. It will take 10 to 15 years to see the results of these
training centres, but the plan is definitely going ahead as part of
the country’s vision for 2071.”
BROAD AND DECISIVE ECOSYSTEM
all the data from trains, trams, buses, underground transport,
taxis, water taxis, drones and so on. It can then provide insights
on how taxis can be guided through traffic more quickly and how
congestion in underground stations can be avoided by running
buses differently.
Dubai brings together companies or organisations, people and
data from different sectors to gather a lot of new insights that
lead to innovations. This creates a true ecosystem that fosters a
healthy knowledge economy and innovation. It also allows them
to build historical data series that can be used to turn simulations
and pattern recognition into smarter policy visions. We talk about
it, but they are doing it today, and doing it well.”
“One of the UAE’s main assets is that it has its finger on the
pulse of developments far beyond the country’s own borders.
They get their inspiration from all over the world and then implement
specific plans within their own context. They also manage
to remove or transcend the boundaries between different
sectors, companies and organisations. One example of this is an
integrated command and control centre we visited that combines
SPEED AS THE NEW NORMAL
“Dubai has hardly any income from oil, like the United Arab
Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi or neighbouring country Saudi Arabia.
Dubai has to make do with trade, tourism and innovation in
all kinds of sectors that they can then market globally.
76 77