The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) launched a national participation campaign aimed at receiving the opinions, perceptions and ideas of community members on the future of the telecommunications and digital government sectors. The campaign is in line with “design the next 50” project, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which aims to involve community members in designing the future of the UAE and setting the pillars and components of the comprehensive development plan for the UAE during the next 50 years from 2021 to 2071, to reach the UAE Centennial 2071.
Through this campaign, TRA seeks to involve community members in shaping the future of the telecommunications and digital government sectors, based on its responsibility for these two vital sectors that form an important part of the comprehensive development plan for the UAE during the next 50 years. The ICT and digital infrastructure of government services are among the engines of the digital economy that the UAE seeks to enhance.
Commenting on this campaign, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director General, said: “The ICT sector is essential for the development and progress in various sectors. It is an incubator of the digital knowledge economy and society, and a fundamental drive of global trends towards the fourth industrial revolution, solutions and systems supported by artificial intelligence. Hence, community participation in developing this sector is highly important, in line with the national campaign launched by our wise leadership to design the next 50 years of the journey of the UAE.”
H.E. Al Mansoori added: “TRA is committed to the UAE Future Foresight Strategy adopted by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as the success of TRA in the tasks assigned to it depends greatly on the success of its plans and strategies related to innovation, creativity and future foresight. We have learned from our wise leadership that successful people are the proactive ones. Accordingly, TRA has attached great importance to future foresight, considering its responsibility for a sector that depends greatly on change, transformation and continuous development. We strive to reflect future foresight in TRA various initiatives and operations, and currently we are working on 11 innovation topics related to future foresight, including open data, virtual reality technologies, the Internet of things, smart city technologies, artificial intelligence, future generations of communications, cyber technologies, Arab digital technology, blockchain, robotics, and advanced data analysis.”
H.E. Al Mansoori highlighted that participation in designing the future of the country is not limited to a specific person or entity, but rather is the duty and task of every member of the community. He added: “We have launched this campaign with the aim of involving all members of society in developing the performance of the telecommunications and digital government sectors, as well as improving the level of smart services, in belief that every member of the Emirati community can have a bright idea that contributes to achieving the country's goals and visions.”
The campaign launched by TRA included publishing a consultation on its website and on the official portal of the UAE, attracting the public’s opinion, on how to improve and develop performance in the telecommunications and the digital government sectors. TRA has also intensified posting on social media, with the aim of motivating the public to participate in this national campaign.
TRA emphasized that the participation of community members in this campaign will enrich ideas in the telecommunications and digital government sectors, as it will contribute to developing the comprehensive development plan, designing the next fifty years, and identifying the challenges facing the telecommunications and digital government sectors.
TRA will collect and categorize all opinions and ideas, analyze the outputs, and identify innovative and effective ideas that serve the UAE Centennial 2071. It will also issue a report on all ideas and other inputs to study and include them in the comprehensive development plan.