Page 182 - Ministry of Economy - December2017

12/26/2017 Dubai Economy and private sector discuss future-readiness at 2nd Business Community Engagement Forum | ZAWYA MENA Edition
Al Saadi said the Future Industry & Foresight Initiative has been launched in partnership
with Frost & Sullivan Global to serve as a resource for businesses and industry on the

trends, technologies and developments happening globally and locally. “Through the

initiative, Dubai Economy will also work with the various government entities in the emirate
to ensure a future-ready business environment. The initiative will see various workshops
organised in different industry segments, help business leaders understand and analyse

trends, identify opportunities, build capacity to capitalise trends, and even create new

trends and markets.”

Al Saadi expressed hope that the four initiatives will be the starting point for further

collaboration between Dubai Economy and business groups. “Our evidence has shown
that only through continuous conversations and collaborations with the Business Groups,
Councils and Associations – or the Representative Entities, as we call them - can we have

richer solutions and initiatives for the economy and industry.”

Wael Osman, Director, Strategy Department in Dubai Economy, presented the Dubai

Economic Strategy 2018-2021, with emphasis on its main axes of which the most

important is enhancing the role of Dubai Economy in developing the overall economy in
the emirate and positioning Dubai as a global economic research centre. Alexandar
Williams, Director of Future Economy, presented preliminary findings of a survey on the

state of future-readiness of Dubai’s companies as well as the strategies to enable a future-

ready economy.

Speaking in the first panel session of the forum on ‘Enabling Dubai’s Future-Readiness,’

Hani Al Hamli, Director of the Dubai Competitiveness Office charted the future
competitiveness of Dubai. Wesam Lootah, CEO of Smart Dubai Government
Establishment; Marjan Faraidooni, Senior Vice President, Legacy Development & Impact,

Expo 2020 Dubai; Dr Noah Raford, CEO, Futurist-in-Chief, Dubai Future Foundation, and

Dr Abdulaziz Istaitieh, Senior Economic advisor, Policy & Strategy, General Secretariat of
Dubai Executive Council also spoke on the most outstanding initiatives Dubai has

embarked on in its quest to be future-ready.

The second panel session on ‘Enabling a Future-Ready Organisation & Industry’ had
Bashar Lazaar, Director of Operations at MENA ConsenSys; Nadia Abdul Aziz, President,

National Association of Freight & Logistics (NAFL), Fiata; Omar Christidis, CEO of

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