Technology Innovation in Dubai

Mobile Phone Penetration

The UAE sits atop the region for smartphone user penetration as well, at 64.6%
of mobile phone users. eMarketer estimates that this rate will rise to 74.6% by
2018more than 15 percentage points
See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/United-Arab-Emirates-LeadsMiddle-East-Africa-Mobile-Phone-Penetration/1011971#sthash.NnUT1LPj.dpuf

Impact of Technology on Travel and tourism in the Middle East

Mobile devices, tablets and computers are frequently used in the Middle East for every
aspect of trip planning, from browsing to booking, to even post-travel reviews. This is
opening tremendous growth opportunities for key players in the industry as they utilize these
devices to engage with current and prospective customers.
According to Euromonitor International, Middle East online travel penetration will grow
from 18% in 2013 to 22% in 2014
Mobile internet potential is expected to intensify with the growth of the younger and more
digital-savvy population in the region. Strong growth of the mobile platform is expected to
play an important role in the business strategies of travel and tourism businesses throughout
the region. In 2013, about 85% of business travellers used mobile apps, 62% used them on
every business trip and about 90% claimed that mobile apps improved their travel
experience.
Key Points

In 2012, online travel penetration in the Middle East accounted for 18% and is
expected to reach 22% in 2014. By 2030, the region is predicted to have nearly 81
million outbound travelers;

The young make up 60% of the population in the Middle East, with over 50%
under the age of 25. This age group is typically technologically-savvy and the
strongest consumers of smart phones and iPads. This youth-demographic
economy represent strong potential for the travel market in the forecast period;

The region has strong market potential in value terms, as Middle Eastern
spending in the Middle East is relatively high while traveling. Outbound travel

tends to be amongst larger groups and for longer periods of time. Euromonitor
International estimates that in 2014, one in six travellers booked their trip online;

UAE tourism receipts are forecast to rise by 67% by 2018. The region is
entering a new era of stability, increased connectivity and expansion of existing
infrastructure. Euromonitor International expects UAEs hospitality market to
reach US$7.5 billion by 2016, up from US$4.5 billion in 2011, a 67% increase;

Tourist arrivals in the UAE are expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% between

2012 and 2022, with hotel supply expected to increase from the current 96,992
hotel rooms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, to a total of 125,383 hotel rooms in 2016. In
November 2012, year-to-date occupancy reached 80%, up 2% from the same
period in 2011;

Dubai International Airport recorded total passenger traffic in 2012 at more

than 52 million travelers, up 13% from previous year, with passenger numbers
forecast to reach 98 million by 2020. Abu Dhabi alone welcomed 2.3 million hotel
guests in 2012 in hotels and hotel apartments, an increase of 13% from the
previous year;

Hotel revenues also witnessed strong growth over 2012-2020, up 6% to

US$1.2 billion. Ras Al Khaimah plans to position itself as a nature-focused
tourism destination, aiming to add 10,000 rooms by 2016.

Visiting family is cited as the number one reason for travel across United
Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Travel for this purpose account for 71% of trips
for Saudi Arabia travellers, and 55% for UAE travelers.

SMARTPHONE AND SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCES

MIDDLE EAST TRAVELERS
The internet is playing a key role in the decision making process for both leisure and
business travelers in the Middle East. Amongst travellers using an online platform to plan
their trips, 50% used mobile for their travel decisions in the past year. Middle Eastern travel
has a great opportunity to engage with customers using the mobile platform and to convert
these mobile travelers into bookings. In fact, bookings made online through smartphones
represents a strong opportunity for the travel industry

Euromonitor International estimates that mobile data traffic in the MENA region will grow
faster than in any other part of the world between 2014 and 2018, with penetration of
smartphones and tablets estimated to reach about 600 million devices by 2018, up from just
million in 2013. It is also believed that one in six consumers in the Middle East is using the
internet as their primary booking platform.

Sources : http://blog.euromonitor.com/2014/11/the-impact-of-technology-on-travel-andtourism-in-the-middle-east.html

Internet of Life: Impact on UAE

residents 2nd highest in world
According to Internet World Stats, the UAE has about 9.2 million users or 95.7 per cent of the
population at the end of June 30, 2014, second highest after Bahrain (98.7%).
When it comes to usage, the UAE government is 2nd highest in the world after Singapore.
The high penetration of Internet and mobile is reflected in the individual and businesses usage
as well, ranked 20th and 27th respectively worldwide.
This high rate of Internet penetration is also mirrored in the higher number of Facebook users in
the country.
Facebook
The latest figures available show that there are more Facebook users in the UAE compared to
the global average.
For example, UAE has about 60 per cent of its online population accessing Facebook on a daily
basis.
In the UAE alone, there are about five million Facebook users, which represent six per cent of
the total number of Facebook users in the Arab World, and 28 per cent in the GCC. Facebook
estimates that there are approximately 3.5 million Facebook users are in Dubai, who exchanged
over a billion messages, left 111.5 million comments, and posted over 45 million pictures during
the month of March.
Sources: http://www.emirates247.com/business/technology/internet-of-life-impact-on-uaeresidents-2nd-highest-in-world-2015-04-19-1.587767

The five trends identified in the Accenture Technology Vision 2015 report include the
personalization of the internet Internet of Me; a shift in focus from selling things to selling
results in an Outcome Economy; digital platforms that help build next-generation products and
services in the Platform (R)evolution; intelligent software embedded across the enterprise,
creating the Intelligent Enterprise; and intelligent machines and devices working alongside
employees as a Workforce Reimagined.
Sources : https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/middle-east-already-embracing-fivetechnology-trends-affecting-the-digital-transformation-of-public-and-private-sectors-accenturefinds.htm

Dubai is an entry point to the fast-developing markets of Asia, the Middle East and
Africa. "These are markets growing at double the rates of the developed world, and
the hub for accessing these markets is Dubai," said Mustafa Abdel-Wadood,
chairman of the management executive committee of the Abraaj Group, a private
equity firm with $9 billion under management. Countries like India and Nigeria are
expected to keep growing at rates of more than 5 percent a year, while developed
markets growth may hover around 2 percent to 3 percent a year.
Dubai is not only geographically central to some of the hottest developing markets, it
has a huge transportation and trading infrastructure .
It features a huge deepwater port, Jebel Ali Port, that funnels trade to the Gulf, Africa
and the Indian subcontinent, and the world's third busiest airport.
2. Neither companies nor individuals, including expats, pay sales or
income tax, and the economy has diversified. The GDP per capita in the UAE,
a federation of seven emirates, is nearly $45,000. But in contrast to some of the
other emirates, Dubai is insulated from the declining price of oil, which was between
$35 and $40 as of press time. "Thanks to an ambitious strategy to diversify its
economy, Dubai no longer relies on commodities to power its economic growth," the
Brookings Institute noted. The biggest sectors in the Dubai economy are trade
and tourism, which account for more than 28 percent of the GDP; business and
finance, which account for more than 27 percent; and transportation, accounting for
nearly 14 percent.
The low taxes make Dubai a natural choice for entrepreneurs, and Dubai is seen as
a tech hub in the Middle East, home to companies including Souq.com, a fast-

growing e-commerce company whose valuation has been reported at more than $1
billion. The Middle East region suffers from a dearth of capital for high-tech
businesses, but there are some VC firms focused on the UAE, including Dubai
Silicon Oasis Fund, CDG Capital Private Equity and Womena.
Free trade policies give Dubai an advantage over neighbors. Many
economies in the Middle East and elsewhere in the fast-growing emerging markets
are hampered by laws that restrict foreign owners and investment. Dubai, to its
economic advantage, set up special zones where the laws encourage international
investment and favor particular industries. For instance, Abraaj has its offices in
the International Financial Center, a neighborhood where regulations against
foreign ownership of firms has been lifted.
There are several other similar zones, targeted for specific industries, including
technology and media: In the Internet Zone and a neighborhood called Media City,
employees aren't subject to the same work-visa requirements as elsewhere in the
emirate.
Facts and figure :
The population of this United Arab Emirate has exploded from less than a million a
decade ago to more than 3.3 million today; about 80 percent of those are expats.
Between 2013 and 2014, employment grew 4.7 percent, and GDP per capita grew
4.5 percent, to $24,866.
Sources : http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/21/3-reasons-dubai-is-rising-as-a-tech-startup-hub.html

Predictive waste control, energy efficiency in buildings,

environmental monitoring and adaptive traffic control. Its
all on the way with The Internet of Things, (IoT)
Dubais love affair with digital technology could culminate in its urban life being transformed by
the Internet of Things, the next phase in the digital revolution.
The IoT is an emerging way of managing the physical environment through sensors and
networks whose impact could be worth between US$3.9 trillion and $11.1 trillion a year by 2025,
according to a new report by McKinsey&Company.

Through its Smart Government and Smart City projects, Dubai is exploring the potential of the
Internet of Things, and the worlds leading technology companies are coming to Dubais Free
Zones to help them do it.
Dubai already has the worlds highest rate of mobile phone coverage in terms of population, one
of the highest rates for smartphone penetration and an excellent telecommunications system.
As a basic symbol of the Smart City, free Wi-Fi zones have popped up in more than 200
locations around Dubai and even at the beach people can get access to the Internet as well
as government services and information.

The World Economic Forum placed Dubai 24th on the forums Network Readiness Index out of
148 countries. The index measures usage of ICT, the regulatory environment, and the impact on
the economy of digital technology.
Already an ICT hub for the Middle East, the IoT venture makes Dubai a centre for digital
experimentation for major IT companies interested in new uses for their products and ideas.
The Internet of Things is an emerging way of managing and controlling the physical environment
through sensors that are connected to networks and computer systems.
These sensors capture extraordinary quantities of data that can be analysed and put to use in a
multitude of ways for individuals, homes, retail shops and offices, factories and cities.
Smart watches, energy management in buildings, environmental monitoring and adaptive traffic
control are just some of the applications of IoT that are made possible by the proliferation of
smart devices and wireless connectivity.

The ability to monitor and manage objects in the physical world electronically makes it possible
to bring data-driven decision making to new realms of human activity, the McKinsey report said.
Since the turn of the century, Dubais Smart Government project has been digitising government
services to create smoother communication with its citizens.
Anyone who has experienced the hassles of moving to the UK or Europe, for example, would
appreciate the 2,000 services which are now integrated through the Smart Government project
using online services and smartphone messaging.
And in areas such as trade and exporting, the application of digital technology has magnified
Dubais performance as an export hub so that it now has the most efficient port in the world.
Now this original vision is evolving beyond systems that rely on human input using touchscreens
or keyboards, to one where sensors collect data that can be analysed to improve urban services,
such as health, traffic congestion, energy usage, waste management and pollution.

Enter Dubais Smart City initiative.

These two digital projects have the potential to make Dubai more liveable and safer; to make
business more efficient; government more responsive; and to create more sustainable
consumption of energy and water.
They also require major investments in ICT infrastructure, especially the networking hardware to
coordinate smart devices or sensors with computers.
Some of the worlds biggest technology companies, such as Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle and
MasterCard have set up in Dubais Free Zones, where they benefit from corporate and personal
taxes exemptions and full capital and profit repatriation.
Their offices in Dubai Internet City, Silicon Oasis and the Dubai Outsource Zone engage in
research and development and industrial production.
Their presence in Dubai also allows them to reach regional markets that have rising disposable
income and growing consumer and business tastes for ICT products.
Dubais venture into the Internet of Things is creating a global Smart City that puts the emirate on
the right side of technological history.

Source: http://www.visitdubai.com/en/business-and-investment/businessincentives/global-market/dubais-digital-revolution

Impact Of Information Technology On The

City of Dubai
April 9, 2016 TECHNOLOGY admin No Comments
Dubai is one among the seven emirates another city; It is a cosmopolitan city with a diverse mix
of culture. It is a home to a large number of foreign population. As reputable companies
worldwide are based in Dubai, the city has become an ideal platform to launch and promote
services. With a world-class infrastructure and superior business practices, Dubai is voted one of
the easiest cities to start a new business because of its growing IT services.
Drastic changes in the business sectors of Dubai have attracted many IT companies and most
successful IT companies have chosen Dubai as its headquarters. The objectives of the city in the
growth of information and technology, and this led to the founding of Dubai Silicon Oasis and
Dubai Internet City. Dubai has become a regional IT hub. It is the perfect location and is easily
accessible to the IT industry growing fastest in the world. There are several opportunities
available for software development, network design, hardware manufacturing and penetration
testing in Dubai as well as other service providers. these are all elements of the IT industry. We
will discuss more about this in the following sections.
software development market in Dubai
The software market is very large. It consists of different areas such as: development,
maintenance, publications using different models and deployments. The industry expanded in the
20th century before this team was scheduled by customers for software itself. Dubai is one of the
fastest growing markets for software. Above all, the huge demand has been in the ERP and CRM
software. As the ERP market modernization has contributed to various initiatives in enhancing
international competitiveness. From 2014 to 2015, the market faced a growth of 7 percent. The
technology sector of the UAE is forecasted to reach 5 billion in 2015.
Network Security Services Dubai
Services network security is a platform that provides a security-enabled client that serves to fix
the software. Threats to security software are transforming the way we do our business. In order
to make more efficient and profitable business, it is important to keep the software company
cyberthreats. As the demand for software is increasing, while demand for threats to network
security is also a leader. As a result, a professional and qualified service operates are required to
safeguard the company from threats in the technology sector of Dubai.
Penetration Testing Market Dubai
An attack software on a computer system that aims to find vulnerabilities or security weaknesses,
in turn, access to data on the computer is known as a penetration test or more widely known as
penetration testing. Every day lots communication and commercial activities are carried out by
the network, leading to increased cybercrime, targeted at individuals, businesses and
government. It was reported that the rate of cybercrime increased by 88percent from 2013 until

2014. Therefore, it has become highly viable for the existence of penetration testing in Dubai .
This has led to the development of antivirus and service providers cybersecurity in the city.
The 21st century has seen an undeniable increase in the use of Internet and keep up with the
trend, Dubai also offers almost anything you need on the Internet. From small scale to the largest
business, Dubai has its share of all types of businesses. The technology sector, although it has
had a major boost in the past decade.

Sources: http://financewithtechnology.com/impact-of-information-technology-on-thecity-of-dubai/.

http://www.totaluae.com/news/uaes-tech-sector-performance-boosts-2gis-growthprospects/
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