#Ep. 23: An insight into Smart Dubai - What are they really doing in blockchain?

About this Episode

Let’s face it, Dubai has sent ripples across the blockchain ecosystem upon the launch of its Dubai Blockchain strategy which was launched by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al-Maktoum in October 2016.

Ahmed sits down with Mohammed Al-Sharid, the Senior Project Manager for Business Development & Global Partnerships at the Smart Dubai Office, which is a government agency in the UAE tasked with making Dubai the happiest city on earth.

Mohammed gives a deep dive into how Smart Dubai are using their role as an implementor and orchestrator within the blockchain ecosystem to ensure Dubai becomes the first blockchain powered city by 2020.

Mohammed starts off the deep dive by talking about the 3 pillars that defines Dubai’s Blockchain strategy.

The First Pillar: Government Efficiency

Mohammed explains the 3 different elements (Use Cases, Blockchain Platform and Blockchain policy implementation) within the first pillar and how the three contribute to help the government of Dubai increase efficiency within their government departments. Make sure to listen to this episode to find out about these 3 elements, especially If you’re a start-up, policy implementor, and also interested in crypto. (Yes, a Crypto Positioning by Smart Dubai is cooking under the hood for 2019).

Mohammed also mentions a couple of uses that is being implemented currently.

The Second Pillar: Industry Creation

To achieve the 2020 vision, Smart Dubai have been running the Global Blockchain challenge for the past 2 years where they have received hundreds of applications across the world to tap into the growing innovation taking place globally. The Global Blockchain Challenge is back for 2019, where Dubai is calling all blockchain start-ups to apply to the Challenge. The 20 shortlisted winners will be competing in the Future Blockchain Summit organised by Smart Dubai which is taking place in April 2019. P.S. Application deadline is 30th January 2019. Details are below.

The second part of the Industry Creation is about helping to accelerate blockchain projects at the Dubai Future Accelerators program where start-ups work with government agencies for 12 weeks to build a proof of concept.

The Third Pillar: International Leadership

This pillar is about cross border collaborations to build Dubai as an international leader within the blockchain space. Listen in to hear how they are building bridges with other cities to build blockchain use cases.

As well as building Dubai as a hub, they are actively learning from different jurisdictions such as Malta and Crypto Valley in Switzerland.

Finally, listen into how one of the live blockchain use cases being built across several government departments in Dubai regarding payment reconciliation.

Global Blockchain Challenge Details
Link: Smart Dubai Global Blockchain Challenge
Applications are open until 30 January 2019, 11.59pm GMT +4.

For more information about Smart Dubai, please click on this link Smart Dubai.

All of the above and more will be on this week’s episode of Encrypted!

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