• Eng. Mohammad Al Zarooni: Digital transformation is a societal project rather than a technical one, and it is in line with the wise leadership’s vision to enhance community happiness, economic sustainability and consolidate the UAE’s leading position at the global level.

UAE: The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) launched the Digital Society Initiative, which includes providing a series of awareness field activities in the context of direct communication with the community to encourage leveraging and adopting digital means to improve the digital wellbeing of various segments of society.

This initiative includes promoting TDRA social initiatives, with real-life examples on how to leverage them to facilitate the daily life of various segments of society, thus accelerating the pace of digital transformation in the UAE.

The Digital Society Initiative aims to raise awareness of the Digital Government’s initiatives, services and efforts to enhance the quality of digital life of the various members of the UAE community. The Digital Society Initiative also aims to increase the confidence of customers in the Digital Government and its services, and encourage the country's residents to adopt digital enablers and use digital services.

Commenting on this initiative, H.E. Eng. Mohammad Al Zarooni, TDRA Deputy Director General for Information and Digital Government Sector: “The UAE achievements in the field of digital transformation reflect the great efforts made by the UAE Digital Government in cooperation with its strategic partners, but the success of these efforts depends primarily on the extent to which the community adopts and interacts with them, and this in turn depends on the level of public awareness of the importance of digital services and related solutions.

The "Digital Society" program comes as part of the social responsibility of TDRA’s digital government sector. Through this initiative, we hope to increase awareness and trust in digital government services, thus increasing usage and adoption, and at an advanced stage, increasing interaction with digital applications and solutions through the participation of customers in providing developmental suggestions and comments.”

H.E. Al Zarooni added: “Digital transformation in origin and essence is more of a societal project than a technical one, and it is in line with the vision of the wise leadership to enhance community happiness, economic sustainability and consolidate the leading position of the UAE at the global level. At TDRA, we believe that the success of digital transformation in achieving these goals requires a high level of societal adoption. This could be achieved through the Digital Society Initiative, where the Digital Government teams participate in coordinated events and forums with the aim of raising the level of digital awareness among customers, and measuring their satisfaction with the digital services provided.”

TDRA confirmed that these sessions scheduled throughout the year will cover many aspects related to digital transformation such as digital government enablers, like UAEPass, and will also highlight digital capacity building initiatives such as TDRA Virtual Academy, TDRA innovation camp, and UAE Hackathon (data for happiness and wellbeing). The lectures and training workshops will address the process of digital transformation in the UAE and the roles of Digital Government in this process.

The lectures and workshops will include surveys to measure the level of happiness and satisfaction of customers with the digital government initiatives, and to know their suggestions and opinions and benefit from them in developing the Digital Government work.

TDRA indicated that the Digital Society initiative targets all segments of society, including parents, senior citizens and people of determination, in addition to customer happiness government employees and partners from the private sector. A number of government entities will participate in organizing and launching the first phase, including the Presidential Court, the Community Development Authority in Dubai, and Sharjah Department of Suburbs and Villages Affairs, in order to reach citizens through neighborhood and suburban councils in the various emirates.

The dates and locations of the awareness sessions will be announced throughout the year on social media accounts of TDRA and its partners.

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Terms:  

Digital transformation: the use of modern digital technologies such as the Internet, artificial intelligence and smartphone applications in providing services, developing performance, and improving the lifestyle. Digital services are one of the most important forms of digital transformation, whereby members of society can obtain government services using mobile devices at any time and place.

Economic sustainability: The term economic sustainability was introduced in the sustainable development literature, trough many articles and economic studies. Economic sustainability is based on optimal investment in the elements of production and production processes in a sustainable manner, using multiple strategies and systems to employ, protect and preserve natural, human and financial resources, ideally, to create a balance that is beneficial and sustainable in the long term.

About TDRA 

The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) oversees the telecommunications and digital government sectors in the UAE in accordance with the Telecommunications Law issued by Decree No. 3 of 2003 and its amendments, and in accordance with Decree No. 23 dated September 27, 2020, amending some provisions of Decree No. 3 of 2003 regarding the regulation of telecommunications, and adding “digital government” to the functions and name of the authority.

TDRA’s role as a regulator for the telecom sector focuses on: ensuring adequate provision of telecommunications services; developing the telecom sector; ensuring the interests of all parties, applying relevant policies and regulatory frameworks, developing human resources, and encouraging research and development, in order to ensure that the UAE has a leading regional and global position in the telecommunications sector.

Regarding its digital transformation role, TDRA is responsible for overseeing the federal digital government under Federal Law by Decree No. 3 of 2011. Since then, TDRA has been responsible for digital transformation at the national level through two strategic goals: enhancing a smart lifestyle, and leading digital infrastructure in the UAE.