Spotlight: UAE embraces digital revolution to press economic diversification

DUBAI, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has set ambition to diversify economy away from oil by giving full play to the industrial revolution of digitization.

The Gulf state will reduce the share of oil in its GDP to 20 percent by 2021 from the current 29 percent, said UAE Minister of Economy Sultan Al-Mansoori in a recent speech.

The UAE government has launched scores of ambitious initiatives in relation to artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

For instance, Dubai, the largest city in the UAE, aims for its public institutions to use blockchain technology, a decentralized digital ledger, to allow staff to work on one file remotely at any time by 2021.

According to Aisha Bin Bisher, director general at the government-controlled Smart Dubai Office, the blockchain technology can increase the productivity of public services by saving 25 million work hours per year.

Nearly all major technology brands, such as the American Google, China's telecommunications giant Huawei and Germany's Siemens, have started to run major operations in the country.

On Tuesday, Orange Business Services set up its new Middle East Innovation Hub in Dubai Silicon Oasis, one of the UAE's 40-plus free zones.

Also in the day, Sudheesh Nair, president of California-based Nutanix, a global cloud computing software company, told Xinhua that his company will set up a second office in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

"The UAE leadership is heading into the right direction by embracing digital services as it has the courage to drive the economy away from oil," said Nair.

Essa Kazim, the governor of the 2004-founded Dubai International Financial Center, is upbeat about Dubai's plans to introduce autonomous aerial vehicles by German high-tech firm Volocopter.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the first bankers commuting to the DIFC by flying taxis soon," said Kazim.

Dietmar Siersdorfer, chief executive officer of Siemens Middle East, said Siemens recently launched a smartphone application with Dubai transport authorities, where customers can book tickets for bus and metro in advance and plan their routes with a few clicks.

Dubai will host World Expo from October 2020 until April 2021 as the first Arab city.

Under the slogan "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future," Expo 2020 "shall function as a platform and an exchange for game-changing ideas to create the digital societies of the future," said Reem Al Hashimy, director general for the Expo Committee and a UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation. Enditem