2nd ANNUAL ARAB FUTURE CITIES SUMMIT 2015 STARTED TODAY IN DUBAI

Held under the patronage of Dubai Municipality, the 2nd Annual Arab Future Cities Summit 2015 got underway in the city today. Organized by global conference producers, Expotrade, the two-day summit has gathered renowned experts in smart city development from across the globe to deliver keynote sessions, case study presentations and partake in panel discussions.

The summit commenced with the Eng. Abdulla Rafia, Assistant Director General - Engineering & Planning Sector, Head of The Sustainability Committee, Dubai Municipality and Guest of Honour, Mr. Majed Al Suwaidi, Managing Director, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City inaugurating the summit. 

Mr. Majed Al Suwaidi delivered the opening speech, following which premium sponsors Samsung Business and Dark Matter took the stage to deliver the welcome address. Eng. Abdulla Rafia of Dubai Municipality, presented the first session of the day on the topic A Geo-Spatial based Smart City. The summit witnessed over 350 participants that included city and government officials, sustainability experts and smart city solution providers from across the GCC.

The sessions on the first day of the summit saw over 15 speakers and panelists delivering presentations integral to smart city development. Mohammed Gharaibeh, Head of Enterprise Business Group, Samsung Electronics Business; Harshul Joshi, Senior Vice President, Cyber Governance, Risk and Compliance, DarkMatter and Safder Nazir, Regional Vice President Smart Cities & IoT, Huawei presented on Samsung Smart Nation; The 4th “I” for a Smart City– Immunity from a Cyber Breach and Smarter Cities Enabled through IoT respectively. 

“Keeping in line with Dubai government’s smart city initiative, the 2nd Annual Arab Future Cities Summit has been designed to discuss ideas, initiatives, challenges and opportunities that provide an impetus for smart city development. We are overwhelmed with the support and participation that we have received from our sponsors and participants for this year’s edition of the summit. ” said, Mr. Brad Hariharan, Regional Director, Expotrade Middle East.

Dr. Mario Rossi, Landscape Architecture Manager, The Office of H.H. The Crown Prince of Dubai, through his presentation emphasized on the current and past experiments performed in the research of the best sustainable solutions for natural and artificial environments in Dubai. During his session, he also delivered two pertinent case studies on Natural restoration of resurfacing water bodies - reed beds, smart irrigation, solar panels, etc and implementation of robots for maintenance activities. Abdulla Al Madani, CEO - Corporate Technical Support Services Sector, RTA delivered a keynote session on Pioneering Initiatives for the Future of UAE; Adopting Big Data for Smart Government and Smart Cities.

Cloud Computing - the foundation for Building Smarter Cities; Single Identification Technology enables a SMART World; Manchester - a journey to a smarter city; Pursuing the Extinction of Information Silos in Dubai; How the Industrial Internet of Things will Reinvent Cities; The Importance of Carbon Footprint Reduction via Sustainable Technologies Readily Available in the Lighting Industry and Philips Connected Lighting: Value Beyond Illumination were other pertinent topics that were covered in the summit agenda.

The first day of the summit closed with a panel discussion on Cyber Security, Safe and Secure Connected cities, which saw four industry experts, engage in a conversation to foster smarter development growth. Eric Eifert, Senior Vice President of Managed Security Services, DarkMatter; Furqan Ahmed Hashmi, IT Operations Leader, Emirates Investment Authority; Wim Elfrink, President, Digitalisation Solution Ventures and Yousuf Mohammed Al Shaiba, Director of Smart Services Development Department, Ajman Municipality & Planning Department participated in the panel discussion.

At the exhibitor lounge, over 20 sponsors showcased their technological solutions for smart cities such as GE Lighting, Philips, Microsoft, Huawei, Rolta, Fusionex, Hive Technology and Introsys amongst others. 

Day two of the summit includes engaging sessions on varied topics, such as the Influence of Parking in Planning Future City; Big Data - Fuelling Smart Cities; Automation Everywhere, Challenges and Opportunities and Fluid Urbanism: Using Hydrology and Water Systems as the Basis of Urban Transformation, amongst many others.