As part of an initiative aimed at satisfying the needs of the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, the UAE government has launched the United Nations (UN) platform “Big Data for Sustainable Development.”
The UAE is one of four countries chosen as the platform’s regional headquarters.
The announcement was made at the ‘Mobilizing Big Data and Data Science for the Sustainable Development Goals’ forum, which was co-hosted by the United Nations and featured Emirati ministers, government and international officials, as well as a large roster of experts and specialists in data science and sustainable development.
The UN’s decision to make the UAE the MENA headquarters of the platform, according to Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairperson of the National Committee for Sustainable Development Goals, “underscores the UAE’s stature and will enhance its position as a global hub for technology and big data.”
It also demonstrates the UAE leadership’s desire to use big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she added.
The UAE has supported the youth’s rising interest in big data, future technologies, and sustainability, according to Shamma bint Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Youth Affairs, adding that the government’s measures have encouraged youth participation in the UN Youth Hackathon.
She also reaffirmed the UAE’s commitment to empowering youth and honing their skills and competencies in big data and AI technologies, saying that the country has prioritised youth development.
The UAE has begun its journey into the next fifty years, according to Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, guided by its leadership’s directives to adopt proactive plans, supporting its priorities in sciences and advanced technologies.
She stated that one of the SDGs is to support comprehensive and sustainable manufacturing, as well as to promote innovation, and that the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology has created a plan to encourage innovation and the adoption of advanced industrial technology solutions.
Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications Omar bin Sultan Al Olama stated that data is the true treasure of the future government and the primary tool for producing next-generation government services.
He went on to say that the UAE works with a number of countries and international organisations to coordinate data protection efforts by writing legislation and forming partnerships to guarantee that regulations issued by countries that generate digital technology and social media platforms are aligned.
By focusing on enhancing the efficiency of AI and big data usage across important sectors, the UAE hopes to create a suitable climate for cultivating advanced data talent in order to accomplish the SDGs.
The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, congratulated the UAE Government on the successful launch of the platform’s regional centre, noting that it could help build the capacities of statistical authorities in the MENA region in using big data, accelerating SDG achievement.
According to Hanan Mansour, Acting Director of the Federal Centre for Competitiveness and Statistics, the centre’s experts worked with a UN team to develop the platform’s optimal architecture, which can satisfy the needs of the MENA region.
She noted that the facility controls 578 national statistical indexes and is linked to over 40 authorities to assure data protection, and that it can handle over 100 million raw data units every year.
