Future Cities ME — December 2015 Issue 7

December Issue 7

CONTENTS The Sections

smart technologies

government Innovation is not an option but a necessity p.6

Technology-enabled brand communications to get more personal in 2016 p.52

construction

transport

How can the private sector work closer with the Government of Dubai to create a sustainable city? p.20

Innovation for Aerospace Transformation p.60

health & communities

sustainability COP21: A Consensus of Good Intentions p.38

GCC Tourist Spending to Top $70 Billion Over Next Five Years p. 62

waste management

food & agriculture

Bee’ah launches Sharjah’s first Air Quality Project p.48

Policies and innovations to drive UAE agriculture p.64

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CONTENTS PAGE December Issue

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publisher’s note

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he Innovation Week clearly demonstrated the UAE’s determination and drive to be among the most technology advanced countries of the world. And it was not just grand announcements and hoopla. The Government is putting its money where its mouth is. The new Innovation Policy and the AED300 billion investments that will accompany it, are testament enough.

In keeping with 2015 as the Year of Innovation every government department has been working non-stop to create smarter services and more efficient functioning. These efforts were amply demonstrated by everyone, from DEWA to DHA, at Innovation Week 2015. Corporations were not to be left behind with several major Technology, Infrastructure and Service companies making a significant impact and announcing several joint ventures with the Government to promote innovative thinking throughout the country.

Which brings us to the new Public Private Partnership Law for Dubai. This will provide a much-needed uniform framework for Government bodies and private corporations to co-operate at all levels and on all kinds of projects. In our Technology section we have highlighted the recently held Internet of Things World Forum and what the Internet of Things will mean for business and lifestyle in this region. Technology is also bringing about radical changes in branding and marketing strategies. Read all about it in our feature on the new Hotwire Report.

On the just concluded Paris Accord we have tried to provide you with an in depth and balanced report on what it really means for the global environment. As with any global initiative there are the optimists and the cynics. We have tried to bring you both sides of the story and also the role the UAE is playing in the worldwide effort.

We trust you will enjoy reading this end-of-the-year issue of Future Cities, as we head into the 2016 carrying with us hopes and dreams of a better future while at the same time keeping in mind the valuable lessons learnt last year.

Wishing a very Happy and Prosperous 2016 to one and all!

Cheers!!

FUTURE CITIES ME . VOLUME 1 NUMBER 7 2015 December

Publisher & CEO Liam Williams liam@flipflopmedia.ae Managing Director Harry Norman harry@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9062 Editorial editor sunil Thakur sunil@flipflopmedia.ae +971 4 369 9063 Katy Elliot info@flipflopmedia.ae

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© Copyright 2015 FlipFlop Media All rights reserved While the publisher has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

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2015 December issue

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GOVERNMENT innovation week

“INNOVATION IS NOT AN OPTION BUT A NECESSITY” It is not a culture but a work style, and governments and companies that do not innovate risk losing their competitiveness and falling far behind,” His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said as he announced plans for Innovation Week earlier this year.

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t the launch of Innovation Week on 22nd November, the President of the UAE, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, announced the adoption of the Emirates Science, Technology and Innovation Higher Policy which includes 100 national initiatives in the educational sector, health, energy, transportation, space and water.

The plan foresees an investment of over AED300 billion and includes new national policies in legislation, investment, technology, education and finance. Its goal is to build a vibrant knowledge economy for the UAE in the near future.

“The UAE is working towards establishing a solid future for the coming generations away from the fluctuation of the energy prices and markets,” said Shaikh Khalifa. “The UAE has set its course for a post-oil world “

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through investing in the development of our people in the fields of science and advanced technology.”

The Government’s Science, Technology and Innovation Higher Policy is the result of hard work done by the members of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Committee, and their teams throughout 2015 – UAE’s Year of Innovation.

The policy includes the establishment of funds for science, research and innovation in the UAE in addition to refocusing investment legislation to encourage technology transfer, support innovation and establish global contractual industrial partnerships. It also includes targets to increase investment on research and development (R&D) in the UAE by threefold and increase the percentage of knowledge workers in the country to 40 per cent by 2021.

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government

The AED300 billion national investment will be distributed across: Clean Energy projects AED128 billion Investments in the Renewable Energy sector AED72 billion Aviation Research, Development and Manufacturing AED40 billion Space Sector AED20 billion

Investment in Enhancing R&D across a range of national initiatives targeting Priority Sectors AED30 billion Establishment of Innovation Incubators AED6 billion Efforts to establish and develop Research Centers attached to Academia AED6 billion

In addition, the Science, Technology and Innovation Higher Policy includes a set of educational and scientific initiatives that aim to prepare leaders to align with the developmental changes anticipated for the UAE. The Policy aims to redouble the focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,

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“The direction of Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in establishing the committee was to plan a comprehensive strategic framework to achieve a quantum leap in science and technology in the UAE. His clear guidance was to establish KPIs for ministries and government bodies to effectively execute these initiatives and follow up on their progress.”

and Mathematics) in all UAE educational institutions.

The Policy will establish research centers in all UAE universities, focusing on innovation as the main factor in evaluating both public and private schools. The Policy establishes offices for technology transfer in all universities in the UAE to facilitate the transfer of advanced knowledge.

The Policy will also establish programs for graduates in basic and applied research and drive cooperation between universities and the private sector in the fields of science, technology and innovation.

The Technological and Scientific Initiatives also include establishing centers for energy storage solutions, expanding solar energy research programs and the launching of a national program for water desalination using advanced technologies.

In addition, the Policy establishes specialized innovation complexes in technology, auto industry techniques and spare parts, as well as building national R&D programs in the fields of robotics and genome research.

The Policy also re-stated the UAE’s commitment to the promotion of the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The Policy includes new legislative frameworks to protect intellectual property and copyrights, attract scientists and researchers to the UAE’s academic and research institutions and facilitate the easy movement of advanced scientific equipment and resources into the UAE. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gargawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Committee, said: “The direction of Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in establishing the committee was to plan a comprehensive strategic framework to achieve a quantum leap in science and technology in the UAE. His clear guidance was to establish KPIs for ministries and government bodies to effectively execute these initiatives and follow up on their progress.”

DEWA AT INNOVATION WEEK DEWA’s Innovation Week comprised several innovative activities and events, including a Government

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GOVERNMENT innovation week

Innovation Lab in which real-life tools were used to promote innovation. It also incorporated an ‘Innovation Exhibition’, through which DEWA’s employees, innovators and emerging companies received updates about the latest innovations to support DEWA’s work, and had the opportunity to test these innovations.

The exhibition showcased services and products, which are not yet on the market, and featured the latest research and technical concepts. DEWA also organized inspirational talks under the title ‘I Talk’, with the participation of innovative high-profile guest speakers, who hosted talks for DEWA staff and attending members of the public. The objective was to spread a culture of innovation by sharing experiences about the application of innovation, so that attendees can learn about how innovation is best planned and executed.

DEWA also organized a ‘Design Thinking Lab’ comprising a series of workshops, spread over three days, to explore challenges faced by DEWA, and to discover innovative methods to overcome these challenges, using the ‘Better Today’ design thinking methods. Build-It-Yourself Robotics Kits was a competition for schoolchildren from the age of six, up to high-school age. The robotics kits were equipped with sustainable innovative gadgets, such as solar panels, sensors, chargeable batteries, and programmable microcontrollers.

Other activities included the launch of ‘My Innovation’ (Ibtikari in Arabic), to encourage innovators and designers from the UAE and abroad to offer innovations via a smart platform. This includes science and engineering competitions for university students and engineering specialists to identify scientific solutions and innovations in sustainability and water.

RTA AND INNOVATION The Innovation Week held by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) included an array of distinguished events including lectures, seminars, workshops, an Innovation Gallery, an Innovation Bus that will ply all areas of Dubai, Innovation

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Cinema, and a training camp for students in collaboration with Enjaz among other events.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA launched the Innovation Bus, which toured all parts of Dubai during the Innovation Week. Al Tayer attended to a briefing by Laila Faridoon, Executive Director of the Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors cum Head of RTA Innovation Strategy Committee, about the components of the Bus. The Bus is fitted with high-tech systems and interactive screens as well as office equipment enabling the holding of mini training courses about innovation issues.

As part of the events of the first day, Al Tayer also opened the Innovation Gallery at Noor Bank Metro Station exhibiting models of innovative projects accomplished by the RTA and those to be undertaken in future. Al Tayer toured the Gallery comprising projects such as the metro, tram, water canal, union oasis as well as the electrical bus and the hybrid taxi and self-service kiosks deployed at vital areas and malls.

Al Tayer noted that the RTA is currently mulling the use of smart autonomous vehicles in Dubai as part of its efforts to utilize sophisticated technologies in achieving smart mobility with the aim of applying the concept during Expo 2020. It is also considering the Smart Rental initiative where dedicated vehicles could be deployed to ease the mobility of public transport riders, especially the metro, to their final destinations. Such initiative will also increase the ridership of public transport means, and reduce vehicle ownership as well as carbon emissions.

Foreign Policy Innovations H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, took part in the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) at the UAE Innovation Week. Sheikh Abdullah wrote his proposal at the “Innovation Wall”, which was designed at the hall of the ministry in Abu Dhabi. He also invited all MoFA staff and visitors to present their proposals pertaining to their aspirations towards the UAE diplomacy under the slogan: “I want from the diplomacy”.

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GOVERNMENT innovation week

The first-of-its-kind in the world, the “Green Legacy” is an airpurifying device that is fitted to the window of a building and takes advantage of the sun and algae that run on clean-rays air MoFA activities organized a number of initiatives and forums as well as interactive workshops for innovation and creativity for the staff of the ministry and the public. The ministry has also organized a “Creativity in Diplomacy” exhibition aimed to get an insight into the best practices in innovation and creativity in the field of diplomacy from various accredited diplomatic missions in the country.

INNOVATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT Dr. Rashid Ahmad bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment and Water, launched five environmental initiatives – “Smart Gargoor,” “Green Legacy,” “Beautiful in Wild” and “Emirates Nature Reserves” at Dubai Mall and “Monitor and Control” in Masdar City – as part of the UAE Innovation Week.

The Ministry displayed the first prototypes of the five initiatives at UAE Innovation Week. “Smart Gargoor,” which is based on the world’s best technologies to be used in a local perspective, sends data on the coordinates of “gargoor” (fish traps) and the amount and types of fish inside it, thus enabling easy access to the site and reducing the time spent at sea. The app was developed in cooperation with an international university in Germany and is the latest tool used in fishing operations in the UAE and the world.

The first-of-its-kind in the world, the “Green Legacy” is an air-purifying device that is fitted to the window of a building and takes advantage of the sun and algae that run on clean-rays air. The project is one of the most important initiatives that will contribute to the promotion of environmental sustainability and the improvement of air quality. It was developed in collaboration with Dubai Ports World and can bring in fiscal returns of up to AED1.5 million per year for a building of six floors.

The Ministry also showcased two models – “Beautiful in Wild” and “Emirates Nature Reserves” – in Dubai Mall. “Be A Reason for My Stay” uses an innovative 7-dimensional technique to educate the public about endangered animals. The virtual interactive platform for displaying some species of animals has been

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developed in partnership and cooperation with local institutions such as Dubai Municipality and the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency and nongovernmental associations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature and IFAW. Lastly, the “Control and Monitoring” initiative was also displayed in Masdar City.

It was developed to monitor air quality across the country and can be accessed through an integrated thermal maps with satellite imagery.

It will help determine the effect of emission sites and their impact on the surrounding environment and provide the basis for concerned authorities to take preventive measures.

Financing Innovation and Innovative Financing As a part of the Innovation Week the “Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Fund to Finance Innovation” worth AED 2 billion was launched. The fund is designed to provide financing solutions for innovators across various sectors within the UAE, and support them in transforming ideas and suggestions into innovation projects, which will contribute to the country’s national innovation strategy and to achieving the UAE Vision 2021. The announcement of the fund’s launch was made during the Financing Innovation and Innovative Financing conference, which was hosted by the Ministry of Finance at the Sofitel Dubai Downtown Hotel, as part of the ministry’s participation in UAE Innovation Week.

Capital will be allocated to the fund to create new ways and means of financing innovative projects through commercial banks and financial institutions, in accordance with specific criteria and standards. This information was available during UAE Innovation Week at MoF’s stand in Yas Mall, Abu Dhabi, and City Centre Mirdif in Dubai. In time,

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the Ministry will provide all documents and information to those requesting funding.

The fund will also provide support to individuals and companies registered in the country, and those who provide exceptional innovative ideas, whether they be techniques, processes, as well as intellectual products or services.

Specific phases for the development of the fund have been established. The pilot phase will be launched during the first half of 2016 with the participation of individuals and companies from various sectors. This will be followed by the official launch of the fund’s operations in the second half of 2016. A small fee will be charged for all

applications, and the amount will depend on each individual request.

DHA Innovations The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) hosted a series of activities, launches and brainstorming workshops at kite beach to celebrate UAE Innovation Week 2015.

Ghanim Al Lootah, Director of Institutional Marketing and Communications Department at the DHA, said: “Innovation is central to the health sector, which is ever-evolving. Innovation is essential to provide better patient care and convenience.

This week is in line with the overall vision of the DHA and

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GOVERNMENT innovation week

The intensive course will be embedded in the classroom equipping students with the basics of “Scratch�, a student-friendly programming language that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed.

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government

we welcome the public to our Health Innovation Village where there will be several competitions, health campaigns and brainstorming sessions that they can attend.”

DEC INNOVATION CENTER The Dubai Economic Council, or DEC, on Wednesday announced the launch of Dubai Global Innovation Centre, a joint initiative with Royal Philips, to expedite Dubai’s transformation into the world capital of innovation.

The DEC said the center comes as part of the initiatives launched by the Government of Dubai to provide an institutional infrastructure for innovation. One of the center’s mandates is to organize the “World Innovation Award.”

MoU with GE for localized Innovation The UAE Ministry of Economy and General Electric on have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the culture of localized innovation, and inspire UAE government employees with deep insights on the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

As per the MoU, GE will organize leadership speaker sessions to be led by experts at the GE Ecomagination Innovation Centre in Masdar City , a regional hub that promotes collaborative research and innovation, for 30 government employees nominated by the Ministry of Economy . The Speaker Series will specifically address the areas of FastWorks, GE’s new initiative to promote the ‘start-up’ culture, which emphasizes the disciplines of lean manufacturing and agile software development.

The series will also feature discussions on entrepreneurship and innovation, the role of education in innovation, and the Industrial Internet. As part of the series, GE will also organize a 3D Printing Workshop for government employees, centered on GE Garages - an open call for localized prototyping.

Computer Science First Program The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and Google Inc. are announcing a large scale strategic program to enable more than a quarter million public and private school students across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to learn computer programming skills, combined with training and capacity building for all Abu Dhabi ICT teachers and afterschool coding clubs.

The Google-created program is called Computer Science (CS) First and targets the youth, often with no background in coding.

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The program was initially offered to 30,000 students on September 2015 in grades 4, 5 and 9 across public schools, and will be offered to the rest of the public and private school students in other grades within the two years. The intensive course will be embedded in the classroom equipping students with the basics of “Scratch”, a student-friendly programming language that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed.

By learning to program with Scratch, students will learn to think productively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically.

These skills contribute to developing learners and knowledge creators across platforms, a key longterm growth engine expanding Abu Dhabi’s internet ecosystem, while building a future talent pool to drive Abu Dhabi’s innovative development. l

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GOVERNMENT innovation week

SMEs struggle to innovate The world’s small & medium business owners are struggling to innovate due to competing business priorities and a lack of appropriately skilled employees according to a new global survey

by Sage.

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early a third (32%) of small business owners around the world have neglected the development of new business ideas. The problem stems from a lack of time, despite small business owners working over 40 hours a week (as revealed in Sage global research released last week). 42% attribute their long hours to the unavailability of appropriately skilled employees. South African entrepreneurs are finding this particularly tough, with 57% saying that improved skills amongst the workforce would help release that necessary time.

The development of new ideas was ranked as the most common area of neglect, with customer contact, staff development and bill payment also on the priority list. In a small number

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of countries, including the UK and Germany, entrepreneurs have said they would rather spend time on innovation than on general office administration.

The survey by Sage, the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, highlights some of the major challenges facing the world’s small business owners as they strive to power the global economy.

But innovation isn’t the only thing to suffer as a result of time-poor entrepreneurs.

Over a third (38%) of those surveyed say that time pressures result in losing customers and clients. In addition, small business owners are sacrificing valuable down-time with 33% having taken fewer than five days of holiday in the last year. This figure rises to 57% in South Africa.

However, small business owners are open to solutions to help them devote more time to innovation. As well as improving skills amongst employees, better administrative processes and technology were highlighted (by 51% of respondents) as useful in releasing more time.

Brazilians rank this much higher, with 69% saying this would help.

Stephen Kelly, CEO of Sage Group comments: “Small businesses around the world are the true heroes of the global economy and we need to support them in helping them find the time to develop and grow. We know how hard they work, and we want to help entrepreneurs carve out some time to keep their innovative spark alive.”

The research has been launched as part of a broader campaign by Sage to recognise and celebrate the contribution small business owners make to the global economy. The survey was conducted among 2621 small businesses with under 100 employees in 11 countries. The interviews were conducted online by Redshift Research in November 2015 using an email invitation and an online survey. l

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GOVERNMENT

PPP PROJECTS to get fresh impetus with dubai’s new Legislation

By Trevor Butcher Head of Finance & Projects, Middle East, DLA Piper

PPPs have long been discussed in the MENA region but there have been very few examples of successful projects outside of the traditional power and water sectors that generally have their own sector specific legislation.

In some countries, such as Egypt, this lack of progress has been due to wider geo-political reasons, but in others it has been largely due to the lack of financial need. High revenues from hydrocarbons have enabled governments to fund their infrastructure projects from their current budgets without the need for private sector support. With low oil prices looking like they will be around for some time to come, interest in PPPs is growing.

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hilst the more recent drivers behind the development of PPPs in Dubai are unique, the government has been interested in mobilising private investment in support of its developing infrastructure for some time. Many partnerships and management contracts have been implemented and the Roads & Transport Authority has previously used a contractor funding model on projects such as Phase 1 of the new Dubai Water Canal. However, there have been no major PPP schemes along the lines of those implemented in other markets around the world and the key question now is whether the new PPP Law will act as a catalyst to generate a pipeline of PPP opportunities in Dubai.

SCOPE The PPP Law automatically applies to government entities that are on Dubai’s general

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budget but can be extended to off-budget entities with the approval of the Supreme Committee for Fiscal Policy. The concept of a PPP is broadly defined in the new Law but the key features that are required include an intent to ensure the quality of services, the development of the government entity’s income, or any other objective by taking advantage of private-sector efficiency, financial and technical capabilities.

The PPP Law defines a number of permitted structures at Article 7 and allows other structures to be promoted by the government entity and the Department of Finance with the approval of the Supreme Committee. The PPP Law would therefore apply both to user-pay (concession-type) projects or availability type schemes where the government entity retains usage risk and pays a service fee.

The PPP Law does not apply to electricity and water projects that are governed by the Electricity & Water Sector Law (No 6. of 2011) or simple works contracts or supply contracts that are governed by the Procurement Law (No 6. of 1997). Projects can have a maximum duration of 30 years unless the Supreme Committee approves a longer period. The default position is that the maximum 30 year term runs from signature of the PPP Contract - so not from construction completion - although Article 27 provides the PPP Committee with some flexibility to specify an alternative start date (see below) .

INSTITUTIONAL AND PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS We anticipate the implementing regulations will provide further detail on the institutional and procedural requirements that will apply to government entities.

However, the PPP Law includes a number of specific requirements:

Each government entity that wants to implement a PPP Contract must form a “PPP Committee” comprising of members nominated by the relevant entity’s CEO and, for projects with a total cost to the government of over AED 200 million, a representative of the Department of Finance.

Projects that generate revenues, achieve savings or have a total cost to the government entity of AED 200 million or less can be approved by the relevant entity’s CEO.

Projects with a cost to the government above AED 200 million and up to AED 500 million can be approved by the Department of Finance and projects with a cost above AED 500 million must be approved by the Supreme Committee.

A PPP Contract that includes payment obligations for the government entity can’t be concluded unless the payments have been appropriated in that entity’s budget. This seems to mean that in order to avoid a delay in signing, departmental budgets may have to

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anticipate such payments in advance of the completion of the tender process. However, once this initial hurdle is cleared, the Public Funds Administration Law (No. 35 of 2009) permits multi-year appropriations, so this should not be an impediment to implementing schemes.

FREEDOM TO SPECIFY TENDER AND CONTRACT TERMS One of the biggest hurdles to implementing PPP schemes in Dubai up to this point has been the application of the Procurement Law (No. 6 of 1997).

This contains a number of requirements concerning tender conditions, timescales and contract terms, that do not sit easily with a PPP procurement process or contract. The PPP Law deals with this by disapplying the Procurement Law other than where the PPP Contract contains no

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“clear provision” on a matter. This imposes a burden on anyone drafting a Dubai PPP Contract to ensure that all relevant matters are covered, but this would obviously be the case in any event.

Articles 14 to 24 of the PPP Law contain provisions relating to the prequalification, tender and selection processes and PPP Contract terms including: bidding terms and conditions and financial security (Article 17); conditions of the PPP Contract, bid bond value, performance bond value calculations and means of comparing bids (Article 18); and tender scoring and evaluation procedures (Articles 22 and 23).

These provide the government entity with a high degree of flexibility to specify the tender and contract conditions on a case by case basis. The overriding award criteria is

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GOVERNMENT

Dubai Law No. 22 of 2015 Regulating Partnerships between the Public and Private Sectors (“PPPs”) in the Emirate of Dubai was published in the Official Gazette on 20 September 2015.

This much anticipated new Law will make the implementation of PPPs in Dubai a much more realistic prospect, removing the need for the project specific legislation that previous analysis suggested would have been required to implement a PPP in Dubai. the “most financially and technically advantageous bid”, but the government entity has a discretion to specify the detail of this, including the balance between technical and financial criteria, in the tender documents.

It’s worth noting that Articles 12 and 14 of the PPP Law allow private entities to make unsolicited proposals for PPP projects and allow the government entity to contract directly with the entity that makes such a proposal.

There is no requirement for such proposals to be put to tender and no regulation of the intellectual property rights issues that will arise in this situation. It will be interesting to see whether the implementing regulations deal with these issues, but we can envisage these Articles generating significant interest within Dubai.

CORPORATE ISSUES The PPP Law makes it clear that the successful bidder for a project must establish a Project Company to execute the Project unless the government entity is satisfied that the successful bidder has the financial and technical capabilities to perform the PPP Contract and it provides sufficient financial security. Where a Project Company is to be established it must be either a sole proprietorship or a local or foreign company licensed to operate in Dubai.

The Project Company will need to be properly licensed by the Department of Economic Development in Dubai. In practice this will mean that in most (if not all) cases, the Project Company will need to be an onshore Dubai entity and that free zone entities will not be suitable. This also means that the local ownership requirements of the UAE Companies Law (No. 2 of 2015) will apply to the Project Company. Careful

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consideration will be needed where the project or funding structure anticipates an offshore holding company to ensure that the requirements of the PPP Law are respected.

There are no specified levels of the interest that the government entity might hold. Any government shareholding will have to be held by an affiliate of the government entity or by a government-owned company and, as we understand it, this would mean that the interest would fall to be managed by the Dubai Investment Corporation.

Our initial view is that if the government entity does choose to become a shareholder in this Project Company, this would have wide ranging implications, not just for the tender and project documents, but also for the status of the Project Company under Dubai law and its potential treatment as a “Government Company”.

These issues will need further detailed considerations if any government entity exercises this option.

Unlike other regional PPP Laws - most notably Kuwait - the Dubai PPP Law does not impose any requirement for any part of the Project Company to be issued to the public through an IPO, although of course if the government entity does take an interest, that could potentially be floated at some future point.

FUNDING ISSUES The PPP Law doesn’t deal with the funding of PPP projects in any detail. Article 36 provides that the government entity (in co-ordination with the Department of Finance) may authorise the Project Company to enter into arrangements with “banking institutions” to finance its business and activities. The Article goes onto say that in such circumstances Project Company will be “solely liable” for the obligations arising and this may have some implications for deal structuring that will need to be taken into account.

The PPP Law doesn’t specifically address the need for government entity/funder direct agreements. Most government entities in Dubai should already have sufficiently broad powers to contract such that this is not an impediment, but it will need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

CONCLUSION The Dubai PPP Law is an overwhelmingly positive step forward in facilitating PPP projects in the Emirate. The key issue now is how the deal pipeline will develop. l

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ARCHITECTS I MASTER PLANNERS I DESIGNERS Bogaรงay Creek Master Plan - Antalya, Turkey

perkinswill.com

Construction, Development & Infrastructure Photography by Marlou Delaben

Discussion Series

How can the private sector work closer with the Government of Dubai to create a sustainable city?

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

Public Private Partnership or PPP is now being recognized and encouraged by the Government of Dubai. In the wake of the recent PPP legislation being passed in Dubai, Future Cities organized a ThinkTank discussion at the ADDRESS MONTGOMERIE Dubai, where the region’s leading architects, consultants and project suppliers discussed ways to accelerate and actualize effective Public Private Partnership activities in the coming year.

1. Peter Ridley - Principal Design Director, Architecture - Perkins +Will 2. David Lessard - Director of Architecture, Perkins+Will 3. Khalid Khan - Lead Design Architect, NEB 4. Lee Evans - ASTM technical Manager, Knauf 5. Darren Harrison - ASTM Manager, Knauf 6. Mohammed Tahbouz - Executive Director, Lacasa 7. Nicholas Kissane - Project Manager, B+H Architects 8. Harry Norman - Managing Director, Flip Flop Media

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Construction, Development & Infrastructure

Discussion Series

I think this is where we need to get engaged with Dubai Municipality and say, “let’s look at these legislations you are issuing and see if they are applicable to the region and do they work?” mohd tahbouz Mohd Tahbouz: Until now, we haven’t always been on the effective side of building a sustainable city. Yes, we are planning and designing but we don’t have the smart infrastructure, which is required to serve a sustainable city. They have regulations and are introducing more all the time.

But we are not actually looking at the evidencebased regulation, where we can at least have the sustainability measures that are being taken into design with true data qualifying it. What I see is legislation being proposed without being tested first. We are sometimes facing requirements that are sometimes not working for the region. I think this is where we need to get engaged with Dubai Municipality and say “let’s look at these legislations you are issuing and see if they are applicable to the region and do they work?”

Khalid Khan: I would add here that we need to educate the clients as well and we need to raise awareness. As architects we try to implement these ideas, but when it

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comes to the cost, people can be reluctant to move forward. There are good examples of how this partnership works. Like the Standard Chartered project, which is a purpose built building with full green technology. Some corporate clients will have this interest.

Mohd Tahbouz: Mentioning awareness, we have to be convincing. If I am putting something forward and I am not sure that it actually works, and it is not evidence based, it is going to be very hard for me to sell it to you.

Khalid Khan: We need incentives. The client will always look at return on investments.

Peter Ridley: I think the governmentconsultant relationship can be a struggle in most places of the world to an extent.

It comes down to dollars and cents. Plenty of developers start off with a great idea and push the sustainability agenda, but few really commit. In terms of the government side, in Europe and the US they make a lot of noise about it but that doesn’t really bring anything to fruition. In a way, developing cities like Dubai should be in a much stronger position, they have the opportunity to start with a more aligned agenda and learn from the lessons of the west. That opportunity is still available as Dubai is still a relatively young city. But it has to be driven right from the top as part of a bigger vision as to how you make Dubai a truly world leading city.

David Lessard: One thing that Dubai Municipality can be celebrated for is how

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Discussion Series

nimble and quick it is with legislation. Often we suffer from legislation being reactive without benchmarks, but at the same time we have an interesting luxury that Europe and the States might not experience. Something that takes 4 years to pass in other markets can be passed overnight here. We would like to get to a point where the rules are the rules and there are no exceptions, but sometimes each individual legislative case, is dealt case by case.

To arrive at a consensus on legislation is really where the consultants can assist. Informing and advising on those legislations with benchmarked data, before they are actually published, is a good direction to go in.

Mohd Tahbouz: These legislations that are brought in quickly make us all measure “what can we do to pass this legislation?” What is the minimum I can do to meet this requirement? It is not what is optimum for my development use or the building to adopt. But it is what am I going to do to just meet that requirement.

This approach will continue to put us into trouble.

We are not looking at what is optimum for this system to work, but what is the minimum. Cost and legislation without benchmarking leads us to this situation.

Khalid Khan: When we bring the awareness to the clients, they are willing to spend and can experience the benefits

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over the long term. There will always be new regulations being brought, but the way forward is how we educate the client and the end user.

Peter Ridley: This is a key point, while the property industry is largely geared up to quick turnover and quick profit, the long-term payback becomes a much harder sell.

David Lessard: It’s definitely an alignment of goals, which are misaligned between private developments and legislation within the municipality. The municipality view is to promote sustainability and to put in as many measures in place to force the hand, whereas the developers’ and clients’ sustainability goals exist to some extent, but they are in business and they need to be profitable. The question is, how can these two align? Because when they are misaligned they become inefficient, the process becomes longer, with everybody looking for loopholes. If there was some middle ground where both were happy to push the same agenda, it would be a lot smoother and efficient. And efficiency leads to the better returns for all parties.

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We are both busy people and hard to reach at times, so I think that Forums like this help and during the policy making and vision setting, the private sector has a lot to give.

Nicholas kissane

Mohd Tahbous: What is sustainability? Do we all have a common understanding of what sustainability is?

A lot of people think green buildings are sustainability.

We should go back to the basics, and try and understand what we are talking about.

It is not the green building checklist that we tick off with Dubai Municipality, what level of sustainability does the municipality want to have Dubai at? This definition has not been there, until now. Without understanding where we want to reach and what is the full definition of sustainability to Dubai Municipality, we will just run in circles.

Nicholas Kissane: It’s difficult for consultants to actually get the time to meet with Governments. We are both busy people and hard to reach at times, so I think that Forums like this help and during the policy-making and vision setting, the private sector has a lot to give. For example, if the Government sets a mandate to have 20% renewable energy in the next 10 years, they need the private sector to make this happen and if they do not integrate this into the private sector, its not going to work.

Lee Evans: As a manufacturer I think we can add value with the Government on testing products. I don’t think enough is done on actually testing products to be sustainable.

Products are being tested in

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Discussion Series

different regions and countries, but may not bring the same results or even work here. We test our products here to prove that they are efficient, things such as VOC free, but when we do this kind of tests the price on the product increases and it can be neglected. The architects put it forward and the client shows interest in sustainability, but as soon as we move into the price and seeing the differences, the conversation tends to shorten. We have the best architects in the world here, they design fantastic buildings, but we need governments and the local authorities to come on board and enforce the legislation and vision.

Mohd Tahbouz: Do you think if we had enough lobby power with DM, that we can incite them to come in and give the client an incentive to build sustainably?

May be allow them to have more activity on another land somewhere, or give a fee-waving incentive. We do not see this incentive.

David Lessard: This is a difficult one, they do have this in Europe, US and in some parts of Asia, but usually the incentive is in the return of a tax credit. But here there is no tax here, so how do we begin to incentivise without this?

Mohd Tahbouz: We have to be smart and come up with something on how to make a return to the investor on

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the adoption of a sustainable system.

By finding something, which can show a tangible return on his investment.

Peter Ridley: A key incentive should be the way climate change is happening.

According to a recent report the GCC area could be uninhabitable in the next century. This should be a big enough incentive. We need to understand the longterm vision of the region, we should think favourably on cities and countries in the world which do have a ‘healthy society’ and environmentalism is part of the natural flow of life. We aspire to live as well as a Scandinavian, from a public image point of view. The vision needs to come from the top. The opportunity here is not to create Dubai with a perception that it’s just a place for a developer to make a quick buck, but actually it should be a place with more value than that and it’s a place where people should really want to be.

Architecture as a profession does sometimes get lost in daily life. Nicholas touched on how busy we are running around, and that’s true. But when we look at other professions they do a better job of thought leadership. We ought to look

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at ourselves and see what we can contribute to this.

Mohd Tahbouz: What is stopping us from creating are own lobbying bodies and having ThinkTanks? In the west we have laws being brought in and out, being lobbied and then being passed, why shouldn’t we try to do this? Yes, it might be a new thing to the Middle East, but we should be trying this.

David Lessard: There are a few simple and straightforward things that we are touching upon, especially with standardisation. We are all following the same legislation but we are addressing this through different means. Specifications can be British or American depending on what body we are working on. For the same projects, and the same area we may be looking at more than a dozen different areas. This is a big inefficiency. If the city is growing at the pace that it is growing, and we are trying to mature at the pace we are maturing we are certainly

The vision needs to come from the top.

The opportunity here is not to create Dubai with a perception that it’s just a place for a developer to make a quick buck, but actually it should be a place with more value than that and it’s a place where people should really want to be.

Peter ridley fighting against ourselves on the simple things. Adopting a broad specification standard would simplify people’s lives and cut out the first few workshops on every project where we agree these things.

The discussions continued to touch on various other topics but always circled back to the need for evidence-based and simplified legislations on PPP, along with guidelines based on data-driven and sustainable construction practices. These together can help us achieve meaningful Public Private Partnerships that will in turn build future sustainable projects which will enhance the overall business environments and improve people’s quality of life in our cities. l

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12 jewels to adorn dubai for expo 2020 Future Cities takes a look at twelve projects, in various stages of development, that are set to transform the face of Dubai and enhance visitor experience during the upcoming Expo 2020.

1. Dubai Water Canal Project The $545 million Dubai Water Canal Project will transform Business Bay and connect the area with the Arabian Gulf over three phases that are set to complete October 2016.

The project will include a new shopping center, four hotels and 450 restaurants as well as luxury housing and cycling paths.

It is expected to provide new areas measuring 80,000 square meters for public places and facilities – as well as private marinas for boats and a new trade center at the entrance of the canal. The canal itself will measure six meters deep, while bridges will be built eight meters high to allow the passing of yachts and marine craft.

2. Museum of the Future Launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Museum of the Future, will house some of the world’s latest inventions and will be a cornerstone of the emirate’s focus on innovation. The circular-shaped building will be located next to the Jumeirah Emirates Towers near Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

In addition to becoming a major tourist destination, the Museum will offer advanced courses and specialized workshops, as well as public talks and events. It is expected to cost more than $200 million and is scheduled for completion in 2017.

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3. Jewel of the Creek The $816 million Jewel of the Creek project will consist of a massive waterfront complex, featuring 19-storey apartment buildings, three office towers, two luxury hotels, a recreation center and a convention centre with a ballroom, as well as a marina and a slew of retail spaces for shops and restaurants.

The project, which is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2017, will be located between Al Maktoum Bridge, Baniyas Road and the Floating Bridge covering 123,955 square meters of land.

4. Al Habtoor City The $3 billion Habtoor City, scheduled for completion in 2016, will feature three top-rated hotels – managed by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide (St. Regis, Westin Dubai and W Dubai Sheikh Zayed Road) – as well as three luxury residential towers.

This mega-development, which will be situated on a 10 million square foot plot on Sheikh Zayed Road, will comprise dining venues, a French-inspired garden, an iconic Las Vegas style aqua theatre and the world’s first Bentley café.

5. Deira Islands A 15.3 square km waterfront city, Deira Islands paves the way for hundreds of new hotels, serviced apartments, mixed-use buildings and marinas.

Featuring four islands, the project’s host of attractions will include a large shopping mall; an Arabic souk-style night market, an amphitheater for 30,000 people and a marina that can accommodate large yachts.

While, three hectares of the project – which is scheduled to be completed by Q3 2018 at a cost of $150 million – will be dedicated to hotels and resorts.

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6. MBR City – District One The $10 billion Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) City – District One, will handover the first and second phase of villas in mid-2016 and mid-2017. Reaching 1,110 acres, MBR City – District One includes a 7km stretch of Crystal Lagoons, the world’s largest artificial beach and a 14km boardwalk.

Located within minutes of the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall, the ‘super luxury’ District One project is spread over 440 hectares, with more than 60 per cent of the total area being allocated to green and open spaces. The low-density project boasts a 7km-long ‘Crystal Lagoon’ for swimming, kayaking and other activities. The project will also feature 14km of artificial beach walk and 8.8km of cycling and jogging track on the periphery. District One, scheduled to be completed by 2018-2019, will also feature entertainment, retail and hospitality offerings.

7. Aladdin City Dubai Municipality has started the implementation of the New Aladdin City project in the middle of Dubai Creek.

The project, which is inspired by the well-known tales of Aladdin and Sinbad, will feature three towers, comprising commercial and hotel space, spread over a distance of 450 meters. It will also have air-conditioned bridges with moving floor to connect the towers, driveways and parking lots. The cost and completion date of the project has yet to be revealed.

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8. Dubai theme parks Dubai Parks and Resorts remains on track for an October 2016 completion date with $1.03 billion cumulative project expenditure at the end of June 2015. The resort will feature three theme parks including Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Parks and Legoland Dubai – as well as a 60,000sq foot stage that will hold Bollywoodthemed performances. Rides and other main attractions have started arriving at the park over the course of this year.

9. Dubai Frame The project comprises a 150m-high, 93m-wide structure being built to resemble a huge picture frame.

Located near the Star Gate games and rides area of Zabeel Park, the frame will boast panoramic views of Old Dubai from one side and the skyline of New Dubai from the other side. The $43.5 million project is anticipated to be complete by December 2015.

10. Al Mamzar Beachfront Emaar Properties and Dubai Municipality’s mixed-use beachfront development in Dubai’s Al Mamzar district, is expected to be completed by Q4 2018. The project, which stretches over 9,000,000 square feet, will have 4,000 residential units, 300 hotel rooms, 250,000 square meters of retail amenities and 3.5km of walking tracks covered with plantations. Planned around the 53 hectare Al Mamzar Lake, the beachfront project is expected to have a preliminary cost of $2.72 billion.

The resort will feature three theme parks including Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Parks and Legoland Dubai – as well as a 60,000sq foot stage that will hold Bollywoodthemed performances.

Rides and other main attractions have started arriving at the park over the course of this year.

11. Bluewaters Island The AED6 billion Bluewater Island, located near Jumeirah Beach Residence, is set to be one of the largest tourist hotspots in the world. Set to attract an estimated three million visitors per annum, the island will house the Dubai Eye – the world’s tallest Ferris Wheel.

The project will also comprise retail, residential, hospitality and entertainment zones – as well as housing a boutique five-star hotel.

12. Dubai Creek Harbour Emaar Properties and Dubai Holding are launching a sixtower district, namely Dubai Creek Habor. The project, which is three times the size of Downtown Dubai, will boast the world’s tallest twin towers.

Located alongside Dubai Creek and adjacent to Ras Al Khor, the project will comprise 3,664 office units, 8,000,000 sq feet of retail space, 39,000 residential units and 22 hotels with 4,400 rooms.l

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The Sustainable City Launches 'The Diamond Innovation Centre' The facility is designed to advance progress in sustainability living and was announced during The UAE Innovation Week

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iamond Developers has announced the launch of 'The Diamond Innovation Centre,' a dedicated facility designed to advance progress in the field of sustainability. Announced in line with the UAE Innovation week 2015, the new initiative is part of The Sustainable City - the region’s first fully integrated sustainable community has been established to explore and promote the best ideas around the safeguarding of important natural resources. The first Net Zero Energy city in Dubai, Sustainable City is being modeled with the support and direct supervision of the Dubai Government to become an international showcase for high quality sustainable living. The first institution of its kind in the UAE, The Diamond Innovation Centre will facilitate the study of environmentally-friendly and renewable practices and forms a major component of The Sustainable City’s offerings.

Established to be a world-class knowledge resource institution that promotes best practices in sustainability through applied research and development, The Diamond Innovation Centre will host innovative study programmes, provide professional training and be at the forefront of formulating international standards and measurements.

Faris Saeed CEO, Diamond Developers

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to provide scholarships to students in universities and to arrange reciprocal study programmes with other similar centres.

“The Diamond Innovation Centre will showcase the latest global advancements in the field of sustainability as well as offer consulting services to both students and industry professionals looking to further their knowledge in the sustainability industry.

The Centre will be the first negative lifecycle footprint building in the region, over its 50-year lifespan, the building will produce 140% of its energy requirements, covering its operational consumption while offsetting its manufacturing, construction and demolition carbon emissions,” added Saeed.

The Diamond Innovation Centre is one of the central components of Phase Two of The Sustainable City, which has been designed around the three pillars of sustainability; Economic, Environmental and Social. The facility will have a smart control room, which will monitor the city’s performance and strive to enhance its functions and operations. Also included in The Sustainable City’s second phase, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016, is an eco-resort, a country club, a green school and a science museum. l Faris Saeed, CEO, Diamond Developers, said: “The Diamond Innovation Centre is a groundbreaking new centre that marks the start of a new era in the field of sustainable studies in the region. There is a great deal to be done to head the Middle East towards an environmentally sustainable future and this facility has been set up to lead the way by addressing both regional and global challenges. We are delighted to be at the forefront of what is an exciting time for sustainability with our new Diamond Innovation Centre.”

Among the solutions that The Diamond Innovation Centre will accomplish are the research for new sustainable approaches to elevate The Sustainable City’s role in the educational sector and to develop a reputation for the provision of premium training courses, sustainability consulting services and sustainability exhibitions and conferences. It also intends

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Peter Robinson, Marketing Manager of Saint-Gobain Gyproc Middle East

Healthy walls make for hearty patients The healthcare sector is growing rapidly in the Middle East, bringing increasing demands for building hospitals that not only have to be completed in a short time but that also provide design and performance standards to meet and surpass the best anywhere in the world.

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his provides a major challenge for clients, planners, designers and contractors alike, as hospitals are very high traffic areas, with interiors constantly at risk of damage from trolleys and wheelchairs, and that need to provide a quiet, safe environment that will promote healing and protect vulnerable patients and staff alike. We spoke with Peter Robinson, Marketing Manager of Saint-Gobain Gyproc MIddle East to find out the whys and whats of the primary considerations that are taken in account while designing interiors of hospitals in the region and how her company can provide innovative and viable solutions to meet the same.

Why is noise control so important in a hospital environment and how do Gyproc products achieve the same?

Continuous high noise may impact the duration of wound healing and therefore the time patients spend in hospital. Studies on premature babies in pediatric intensive care units have shown that exposure to high noise levels increases cardiac and respiratory rates, raises blood pressure and even reduces levels of oxygen in their blood - thus affecting physiological and or even cerebral development. 58% of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) rate a noisy sound environment as the second most frequent cause of their waking up. Sleep disturbance, and the resulting lack of rest, may have various physiological consequences on the respiratory, cardiovascular and their immunological systems.

Thus controlling noise transmission from one space to another is crucial as is the level of noise within the area itself. Spaces with a predominance of hard reflective surfaces, such as ceramic tiles, marble or masonry partitions are more likely to suffer high levels of reflected sound. In large spaces, such as the hospital lobby or restaurant, for instance, noise is generated by activity and people talking within the area and is exacerbated by the sound waves reflecting off hard surfaces and bouncing around the space.

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The simple answer can be to add special suspended sound absorbent acoustic ceilings or wall panels. A qualified acoustician will be able to advise on the type and area of sound absorption required.

This beneficial effect can be achieved using a flat or monolithic ceiling design incorporating, Gyptone and Rigitone boards which are fully perforated with a specialist acoustic tissue to the back and are available in a full range of designs. Separately hung independent panels such as Solo, from the Ecophon range, or even special retro fit wall panels, can also be uniquely styled to give high levels of acoustic absorption performance.

What about fire safety? How are Gyproc products designed withstand fires?

Gyproc systems are fully fire tested by internationally accredited independent laboratories against British, European & American standards. Gyproc also holds third party certification for our fire rated systems complying with all the statutory requirements that are specific to healthcare facilities.

The fire performance of a non-loadbearing partition or ceiling is divided into two elements: Fire insulation – the ability of the structure to prevent temperature rise to the ‘cold’ face and Fire integrity – its ability to remain intact and therefore prevent the passage of flame and smoke.

Gypsum plasterboard provides excellent levels of fire insulation thanks to the inherent properties of the gypsum core, which releases water on exposure to fire, thereby delaying temperature rise. For even higher performance, specialist fire boards, like Gyproc FireStop, incorporate glass fiber and other additives within the core to improve core cohesion and strength for enhanced integrity and fire protection.

Gyproc systems, and all of their individual components (metal framework, plasterboard linings and fixings) are designed and fully tested to work together to provide a set level of both fire insulation and integrity.

Moisture control is another critical performance feature. Tell us a little bit about Gyproc’s moisture control systems used in healthcare facilities?

Damp and mold can have devastating long-term effects, not only on the building structure, but also on the health of patients and staff - moisture and mold control measures must be included when designing the building.

It is important to both reduce the opportunity for moisture to enter the hospital from outside, through airtight construction techniques and by creating positive internal pressure; and to address the issue of moisture generated inside the facility.

This can be achieved by the use of fresh air systems, which reduce the need for air conditioning, and localized moisture protection measures.

High performance moisture and mold resistant internal lining systems, such as the new Gyproc M2TECH, moisture and mold resistant system, should therefore be specified at the design stage to prevent difficult and expensive repairs in the future.

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For high performance lightweight and tough drywalls Gyproc systems provide equivalent levels of impact resistance at a fraction of the weight and without the construction and drying out delays associated with masonry.

Gyproc Moisture and Mold Resistant Board gives outstanding protection against moisture penetration and achieved the highest possible ratings for mold resistance when tested to ASTM D 3273 and ASTM G 21, the industry standard tests for mold and fungal resistance. All Gyproc systems can also be supplied with a special M2TECH additive designed to prevent mold growth in the building.

What are the other considerations when constructing the walls and floors of hospitals?

Indoor air quality is becoming increasingly important today, as airtight construction techniques and reductions in natural ventilation, introduced as part of a move to lower energy consumption and reduce air conditioning demands in buildings, allow a build-up of pollutants in the stale internal air. The pollutants, which are generated by everyday activities, such as cleaning and cooking, and by glues and other chemicals used in floor and wall coverings, cleaning products, furniture and medical equipment, can cause a range of physical and medical problems from eye irritation, coughs and breathing difficulties, to longer term health problems – particularly in patients with respiratory illnesses.

Another consideration is wall toughness.

Internal walls in hospitals are constantly under threat from impact damage by trolleys, beds and wheelchairs, which not only affect the appearance of the wall, but can cause the surface to break down, preventing proper cleaning and creating a breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Choosing the most appropriate construction for each different application is therefore key to successful hospital design.

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The use of durable linings is strongly recommended by all Regional Health Authorities.

Durable linings are specified by ESTIDAMA and contribute 1 point in the PEARL rating system, or adding valuable LEED points.

All our products will provide moderate resistance for low risk areas, whilst higher performance linings, such as Gyproc FireStop and DuraLine, will meet the more demanding requirements in corridors and high traffic areas.

For very high risk areas, our GypWall ROBUST system has been specially developed to offer ultimate impact performance with just a single layer plasterboard lining.

High performance moisture and mold resistant internal lining systems, such as the new Gyproc M2TECH, moisture and mold resistant system, should therefore be specified at the design stage to prevent difficult and expensive repairs in the future.

How do Gyproc drywall products meet these challenges?

As far as indoor air quality is concerned it is sensible to consider ways of improving air changes in the building at the design stage, such that exhausted, polluted internal air is regularly replaced by clean fresh air from outside. It is not enough to simply open windows and doors to increase ventilation, as this rarely, if ever, provides the level of air change required, and also allows in warm air and pollutants from outside. Careful selection of all building materials is also crucial.

Following a recent breakthrough by SaintGobain, it is now possible to install wall and ceiling linings, incorporating new Activ’Air technology, that will actively remove 60% of the aldehydes present in ambient indoor air, bringing levels of this damaging pollutant to well within the limits suggested by the World Health Organisation – leaving the air much cleaner and healthier. All Gyproc systems can be supplied with Activ’Air properties giving you clean air choices for every room type with no running or maintenance cost.

For high performance lightweight and tough drywalls Gyproc systems provide equivalent levels of impact resistance at a fraction of the weight and without the construction and drying out delays associated with masonry. They also offer greater flexibility in providing different levels of impact resistance, preventing costly over-engineering, which can impact on both project viability and scheduling, whilst minimizing ongoing maintenance and replacement costs.

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Do aesthetic considerations play a role in hospital design or is it all purely a question of function?

The interior design and appearance of the hospital is crucial in creating the optimum environment for both healthcare professionals and patients.

Gyproc systems allow the designer maximum flexibility to meet different standards of performance, different heights and even to improve aesthetics with eye-catching curves that reduce the ‘institutional’ feel of the building. We have a complete library of sample details that we are happy to share with customers. The functionality of rooms is also often revised. With drywalls you have got lots of flexibility in design to meet future requirements of the building.

What are the advantages of using Gyproc products for hospital construction projects?

As hospitals and healthcare buildings become more complex and technically advanced, we must continually develop technically advanced solutions to meet changing needs – whether it be systems that; let us build faster and more efficiently, that enable us to improve safety, that meet ever increasing demands for improved environmental standards and reduce waste that provide better standards of acoustic and fire protection to provide an improved environment for both teaching and learning.

At Gyproc, innovation is the driver in everything we do. As part of the global SaintGobain group, we benefit from an international network of 7 specialist research centers, with upwards of 3700 staff working in the market to develop a constant flow of new and improved products for construction related applications.

Cost optimization and budget control are other crucial factors in any hospital project, in order to deliver the best quality and value for money. When considering individual elements, such as internal walls and ceilings, it is important to consider the total installed cost, rather than just cost of materials. Other costs associated with light-weight systems are generally significantly lower than equivalent masonry systems. With heavy masonry systems, for instance, it is also easy to overlook costs such as scaffolding, storage and additional delivery costs, and even the cost of providing a water supply - items which are generally not required when using drywall systems.

Other savings such as those in weight, can reduce cost of structural support and foundations, time saved in installation can reduce project duration and labor costs.

Finally, thinner partitions increase available floor space and can reduce overall building footprint requirements.l

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Healing Environments

Learning Environments

Hospitality Environment

Healthcare brochure

Education brochure

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SUSTAINABILITY

WAKE UP CALL On one of the days that Beijing regularly has to effectively shut down the city due to the dense smog that now engulfs it, scientists discovered that plants had stopped photosynthesizing.

That one simple fact should make every living person stop and think – a primary school Food Pyramid fact is that living beings need plants to grow. If plants can’t grow, nothing else ever will!

COP21: A Consensus of Good Intentions

The Paris Accord has brought about a consensus among nearly 200 countries on the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The document calls for reaching “peak” emissions in a few decades and then moving toward zero emissions in coming decades, even if that means depending on technologies that draw carbon dioxide out of the air. A similar deal, albeit on a much smaller scale, was struck earlier too.

The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 set emissioncutting targets for a handful of developed countries, but the US pulled out and others failed to comply

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his time around, the present US President Barack Obama has hailed the agreement as “ambitious” and “historic”, but also warned against complacency. “Together, we’ve shown what’s possible when the world stands as one,” he said.

China’s chief negotiator Xie Zhenhua said the deal was not perfect. But he added: “This does not prevent us from marching historical steps forward”.

Scientists point out that the Paris accord must be stepped up if it is to have any chance of curbing dangerous climate change. Pledges thus far could see global temperatures rise by as much as 3.7C (6.7F). Before arriving in Paris, 187 countries, representing more than 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions, submitted plans to reduce their emissions in coming decades. Those plans came nowhere close to reaching the goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees – let alone 1.5 degrees. In fact, analysis by two teams–one in Germany, one associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology–say the plans, if followed, would lead to between 2.7 degrees or 3.5 degrees of warming. But the agreement also lays out a well-defined roadmap for speeding up progress.

Nevertheless, this is the first climate deal to commit almost ALL countries to cut emissions and it would come into being in 2020.

The chairman of the group representing some of the world’s poorest countries called the deal historic, adding: “We are living in unprecedented times, which call for unprecedented measures. It is the best outcome we could have hoped for, not just for the least developed countries, but for all citizens of the world.”

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Key points The measures in the agreement include: To keep global temperatures “well below” 2.0C (3.6F) and “endeavor to limit” them even more, to 1.5C To limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100 To review each country’s contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge For rich countries to help poorer nations by providing “climate finance” to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.

More than anything though the deal signifies a new way for the world to achieve progress - without it costing the Earth.

A long-term perspective on achieving sustainability is at the heart of this deal. If it manages to deliver that, it will truly be world changing.

Ahead of the deal being struck, delegates were in a buoyant mood as they gathered in the hall waiting for the plenary session to resume.

Mr Fabius was applauded as he entered the hall ahead of the announcement.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande called the proposals unprecedented, while UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon called on negotiators to “finish the job”.

However, the celebratory mood has not been shared among all observers.

Now the bad news Two significant issues that the accord has not even mentioned are CO2 emissions of the shipping and aviation industries, which accounts for 7 to 9% of worldwide CO 2 emissions.

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sustainability

The Oil Prices effect Then there is the issue of dropping oil prices… analysts say that eventually the excess supply situation of today will force cuts in production and the market will “rebalance.”

But what is the right balance?

In its recently released World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency has considered the possibility of a “low oil price scenario” in which prices stay at $ 50 or $ 60 per barrel well into the 2020s.

If that happens, it will hurt clean energy goals by DEincentivizing investments in energy efficiency and alternative fuels. Indeed, in the U.S., gasoline consumption has actually grown by 3 per cent from January through September of 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — a suggestion that low prices are nudging people to drive more.

New technologies and policies would likely reduce oil demand in the transportation sector but reducing consumption would be much more challenging in a world of low oil prices.

The second glaring absence is of actual numbers on carbon pricing. Carbon pricing works by penalizing carbon pollution.

A clear and definable carbon price would have sent out the right signals that governments are serious about their emission control efforts and willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Nick Dearden, director of campaign group Global Justice Now, said: “It’s outrageous that the deal that’s on the table is being spun as a success when it undermines the rights of the world’s most vulnerable communities and has almost nothing binding to ensure a safe and livable climate for future generations.”

However, some aspects of the agreement will be legally binding, such as submitting an emissions reduction target and the regular review of that goal.

However, the targets that are set by nations themselves and will not be binding under the deal struck in Paris.

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Observers say the attempt to impose emissions targets on countries was one of the main reasons why the Copenhagen talks in 2009 failed. At the time, nations including China, India and South Africa were unwilling to sign up to a condition that they felt could hamper economic growth and development.

The latest negotiations managed to avoid such an impasse by developing a system of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). In these, which form the basis of the Paris agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise “well below” 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels, nations outline their plans on cutting their post-2020 emissions.

An assessment published during the two-week talks suggested that the emission reductions currently outlined in the INDCs submitted by

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WWF’s head of delegation Tasneem Essop issued the following statement at the UN climate talks in reaction to the latest negotiating text: “By including a longterm temperature goal of well below 2C of warming with a reference to a 1.5C goal, the latest draft text sends a strong signal that governments are committed to being in line with science.” countries would only limit global temperature rise by 2.7C. Nick Mabey, chief executive of climate diplomacy organization E3G, said the agreement was an ambitious one that would require serious political commitment to deliver. “Paris means governments will go further and faster to tackle climate change than ever before,” he said.

WWF’s head of delegation Tasneem Essop issued the following statement at the UN climate talks in reaction to the latest negotiating text: “By including a long-term temperature goal of well below 2C of warming with a reference to a 1.5C goal, the latest draft text sends a strong signal that governments are committed to being in line with science.

What we need now is for their actions, including emission reductions and finance, to add up to delivering on that goal.

There are opportunities to do so built in the agreement – such as the facilitative dialogue in 2018 – that should be used to update current country pledges, and then further opportunities after 2020.

Finance and emissions reductions pledges will need to be enhanced in a fair manner before 2020 to stand any chance of achieving the long term goal.

“A big concern is that there’s no guarantee of assistance for those who will suffer from immediate climate impacts, especially the poor and the vulnerable.

“The agreement does contain elements that create the

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opportunity to make governments actions stronger and stronger over time, in terms of mitigation, adaptation and finance. This is critical.”

UAE at COP21 EWS-WWF’s Climate & Energy Director, Tanzeed Alam said, “The UAE’s active contribution to the historic Paris Agreement is an encouraging sign that the government recognizes the urgent need to tackle one of the most pressing threats we face, climate change. This region is not only especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change but also well-placed to take action. At EWS-WWF, we strongly believe that the UAE needs to transform to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of climate change. That is why we are working in collaboration with policy makers and key decisionmakers across all sectors to increase adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions.

The Paris Agreement is certainly not perfect and its success will depend on all countries increasing their level of ambition and implement commitments ‘on the ground’, but as one of the only environmental not-for-profit organisations in the region, we encourage and support the UAE’s leadership to continue increasing its ambitions on climate change on a regular basis and ensure it translates to action on the ground.”

Earlier, the United Arab Emirates delegation, led

by Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change, met with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, president of the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, France to discuss progress on the climate negotiations and reinforce the UAE’s positions to ensure successful outcomes at COP21.

The meeting was also attended by Madhed Hareb Mughir Al Khaiili, UAE Ambassador to France, Sayeed Al Tayer, Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and CEO of DEWA, and Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Permanent Representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) and Director of Energy and Climate Change at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The UAE is committed to the negotiation process and to reaching a meaningful climate change agreement that is inclusive of all parties,” said H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change. “A successful agreement should allow for a diversity of action and take into

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“Technology and innovation are key to the UAE’s approach in tackling climate change,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber. “We view climate action as an opportunity to advance new technologies, unlocking new markets to spur economic growth while also protecting our environment.”

account the different national circumstances of countries.”

During the meeting, Dr. Al Jaber highlighted the UAE’s goal of supplying 24 per cent of national energy needs from clean energy by 2021 as one example of how the UAE is addressing climate change.

Other UAE actions include improving energy efficiency standards, deploying a commercial-scale carbon capture, usage and storage project, and investing in renewable energy across the globe.

“Technology and innovation are key to the UAE’s approach in tackling climate change,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber. “We view climate action as an opportunity to advance new technologies, unlocking new markets to spur economic growth while also protecting our environment.”

Earlier, the UAE joined world leaders in launching Mission Innovation, a multibillion dollar clean tech initiative, and the International Solar Alliance, a coalition to advance new solar technologies. The announcements reiterate the UAE’s efforts to accelerate clean energy innovation and address climate change.

Examples of cutting edge clean energy initiatives in the UAE include the 100 MW Shams 1 concentrated solar power plant and the 5000 MW Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The UAE is also close to completing the Middle East’s first commercial-scale project for carbon, capture, usage and storage. Innovative projects at Masdar and the Masdar Institute include a pilot programme to test energy-efficient ways of producing drinking water.

The pilot couples solar power with cutting-edge seawater reverse osmosis desalination, which could solve the critical challenge of water security in the UAE. Research is also underway on how to produce sustainable, viable biofuels derived from desert plants irrigated with seawater through other partners like Boeing and Etihad.

The new global climate agreement is expected to encourage innovation globally as countries commit to finding sustainable solutions to climate change in the context of their own national circumstances, as the UAE has done.l

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Abu Dhabi leads Construction Waste Reduction efforts in GCC

Tadweer Waste Management Master Plan Aims to Serve as Roadmap for the Region with Plans to Reduce C&D Waste in Abu Dhabi

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adweer, the Center of Waste Management - Abu Dhabi, aims to set regional standards for Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste reduction, as part of the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Master Plan.

According to Waste and Recycling Middle East magazine, most GCC countries rank very high up among the top countries worldwide in waste generation per capita, with C&D debris representing the largest proportion of waste in the Middle East.

Limited C&D waste management regulations in the region, compared to other countries, has resulted in the accumulation of the C&D waste in landfills.

Experts in waste management say that recycling C&D waste can conserve raw material, energy, and water, as well as reduce the production of greenhouse emissions and other pollutants that can contribute to climate change.

C&D waste recycling can preserve natural resources and support the local economy through the marketing of recycled C&D material which is much cheaper and has the same quality as the raw material and can be used in infrastructure projects.

“Construction projects are rapidly increasing in the region with Expo 2020 preparations in Dubai, and the World Cup 2022

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to be hosted in Qatar. With these developments, municipalities across the GCC are recognizing the need for robust strategies to minimize the negative impact of large amounts of C&D waste,” said H.E Eisa Saif Al Qubaisi, General Manager of Tadweer.

“EcoWASTE 2016 is the ideal platform to bring together waste management experts and innovators from around the world, to share best practices and latest developments with key decision makers in the region,” H.E said.

The Waste Management Master Plan, being developed by Tadweer for Abu Dhabi, includes studies about the best practices, laws and policies related to waste management and the best cost efficient waste processing solutions.

The Plan’s outcome will also propose methods to reduce commercial and industrial waste and raise awareness about the importance of reducing waste especially that of construction and demolition.

“The Waste Management Master Plan was established to help position Abu Dhabi as a global leader in waste management and sustainable resource policy development.” said Dr. Salem Al Ka’abi, Deputy General Manager of Tadweer, and Head of the EcoWaste 2016 Committee.

“As part of the master plan, despite the growth in C&D waste that increasing construction projects are likely to cause, we are aiming to reduce C&D waste levels. We hope to demonstrate how efficient C&D waste recycling can have

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a positive impact on the region’s environment, society, and economy during EcoWaste 2016.”

As part of the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week hosted by Masdar, EcoWASTE, held in strategic partnership with Tadweer, is an ideal platform for fostering collaborations, and pursuing business opportunities pertaining to waste management in the region.

The 2016 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) is scheduled to run from 16-23 January, and EcoWASTE will run from 18-21 January, co-located with the World Future Energy, and the International Water Summit (IWS), at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The event is expected to bring together more than 50 exhibiting companies from 17 countries, and more than 4500 trade visitors from the waste industry.

With the global population set to reach nine billion by 2050, ADSW promotes collaborative thinking and development to accelerate the sustainable solutions needed to support rapid economic and population growth. An Abu Dhabi Government initiative, ADSW is the largest gathering on sustainability in the Middle East and a significant forum in stimulating the international dialogue and action. l

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“As part of the master plan, despite the growth in C&D waste that increasing construction projects are likely to cause, we are aiming to reduce C&D waste levels.

We hope to demonstrate how efficient C&D waste recycling can have a positive impact on the region’s environment, society, and economy during EcoWaste 2016.”

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CEOs discuss “Empowering a Sustainable Future” Top CEOs and Directors representing corporations, government and NGOs address challenges and opportunities for greater collaboration, partnerships and innovation towards a sustainable energy and resource management future in the UAE.

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ubai Chamber and Al Ghurair Investment, in association with Dubai Municipality, hosted the fourth edition of the Annual CEO Dialogue themed “Empowering a Sustainable Future”, with the aim of fostering sustainable business practices and greater collaborations across business leaders, NGOs and policy makers, to chart a new course for sustainable growth.

Keynote speakers H.E. Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of Dubai Chamber and H.E. Eng. Abdullah Mohammed Rafia, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality, inaugurated this year’s CEO Dialogue alongside H.E. Essa Al Ghurair, Chairman of Al Ghurair Resources and Adil Toubia, Group CEO of Al Ghurair Investment.

The event gathered senior executives representing top private and government corporations, NGOs, academia and the media to champion the innovations, ideas and solutions to some of the most urgent issues in energy, waste

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and resource management, in pursuit of Dubai’s strategic vision to become one of the world’s most sustainable cities by 2020.

H.E. Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of Dubai Chamber commented: “The role of private sector aim of this year’s CEO dialogue is to bring together business leaders, NGOs and policy makers to promote sustainable business practices and foster greater collaborations across key actors of our society, to chart a new course for sustainable growth.”

H.E. Essa Al Ghurair, Chairman of Al Ghurair Resources commented: “The UAE has been blessed with economic growth and social progress over the past few decades, however, our region is faced with an unprecedented challenge: that of a rapidly growing population coupled with a rapid depletion of our natural resources. Our commitment to conducting business responsibly and supporting the UAE Vision 2021 are stronger than ever, as is our commitment to playing our full part to accelerate the solutions that will deliver a sustainable growth and secure our food, water and energy security.”

“If the challenge is unprecedented, the opportunities are very clear in terms of job creation, cost competitiveness, savings, investments and innovation around sustainable energy and the development of a circular economy. But it is only through dialogue, sharing of experiences, that we can better identify what more is needed to effectively rise to the challenge and, together, write our success story of a sustainable growth for our country,” added Al Ghurair.

The first panel at the CEO Dialogue this year discussed “Partnerships & Innovation in Achieving the UAE’s Vision for a Sustainable Energy Future.” The panel was chaired and moderated by Ivano Iannelli, CEO, Dubai Carbon Center for Excellence with participating panelists being Sultan Al Ghurair, CEO, Al Ghurair Properties, Moosa Al - Moosa, UAE President and Finance Director, Dow Chemical, Yusuf Lootah, Executive Director, Dubai Tourism, Sami Khoreibi, CEO, Enviromena and Alexandre Mussallam, CEO, Enova.

The second panel was titled “Moving Towards a Circular and Restorative Economy” and was chaired and moderated by Belinda Scott, Head of Citizenship and Sustainability at NBAD. Participating panelists were Gus Schellekens, Partner, Clean Energy and Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young, André C. Meyerhans, Principal, Fischer Meyerhans Architects, Marc Esteve, Imdaad, Executive Director - Environmental Services, Ashok Gopal, Head of Talent & Performance Management, Mashreq Bank.

Sameera Fernandes, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications, Al Ghurair Investment stated: “The issues of energy, resource management, along with other social and environmental issues are increasingly

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interconnected. As a leading diversified group AGI has been taking an increasingly active role in corporate sustainability, but we also recognize that a lot more needs to be done, which is why we are more than ever committed to a multi stakeholder dialogue, such as today, and to working with both the government and private partners to make our sustainable future begin right now.”

The drive towards sustainable practices from both businesses and the wider community has been gaining much momentum over past years. The Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network began with just four corporate members in 2010. It now has more than 50 and is aiming to grow this to 100 by 2017.

Between 2010 and 2013 it organized more than 70 networking events.

The Dubai Chamber Centre for Responsible Business marked its tenth year in 2014 and assists its members in applying corporate and social responsibility practices that enhance their performance and competitiveness. Most recently, it organized a comprehensive waste management campaign in partnership with a number of prominent regional and international organizations across different areas of the UAE community.l

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Supported by:

Bee’ah launches Sharjah’s first Air Quality Project At a time when 195 countries around the world have reached a historic accord to lower greenhouse emissions and tackle climate change, it is important to recognise another vital goal in the journey towards environmental sustainability: Containing pollution and improving the quality of the air we breathe.

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n recent months, this has been a particular focus for Bee’ah, a leading provider of integrated environmental and waste management solutions. In September, the company announced it had begun monitoring atmospheric pollutants with high levels of precision in Sharjah, as part of a nationwide mission to safeguard air quality in the UAE. In December, Bee’ah with its three partners Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA), American University of Sharjah and Sharjah Municipality have announced Sharjah’s first air quality project.

In order to achieve this, Bee’ah is deploying what is called the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network.

This apparatus features roundthe-clock monitoring of a number of gases in the air which can potentially cause harm to the UAE’s residents: Carbon monoxide, a colourless, odourless gas which reduces oxygen delivery to the body’s organs and tissues; sulphur dioxide, which can cause breathing problems, especially in asthmatic children, and respiratory illnesses

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in the longer term; nitrogen dioxide, which contributes to the formation of photochemical smog; and ozone, which while being a protective shield for the Earth’s inhabitants from the upper atmosphere, aggressively attacks lung tissue at ground level.

Bee’ah is providing seven of these stations, situated in strategic locations across Sharjah, which include residential areas, industrial and traffic spots, and the American University of Sharjah. Three stations have previously been developed by the Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA), with three more to be added in the near future. In addition, two more stations have been provided by Saif Zone, bringing the eventual number up to 15. This means that Sharjah will be one of the few cities worldwide to have detailed scientific data collection across a host of locations.

Countries all around the world are implementing their own air quality monitoring regulations to track and reduce pollution. Federal law in the UAE requires the four aforementioned parameters to be measured, but Bee’ah is going some way past these requirements. In fact, the company’s industrial and mobile stations include eight

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further instruments for comprehensive analysis – measuring hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, volatile organic compounds, non-methane hydrocarbons, total hydrocarbons, methane, BTEX, and electro-magnetic radiation. In addition, the network also monitors meteorological parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and atmospheric pressure. It is therefore reaching well beyond the legally mandated environmental standards.

The data from these stations will be uploaded in real time to a website which can be freely accessed by the public. In turn, these data will feed into the UAE’s national inventory. This will enable researchers and policy makers to perform scenarios for co-control measures and co-benefit opportunities.

“This world-class initiative will help ensure we can be proud of Sharjah’s air quality”, says Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of Bee’ah. “It’s a turning point in our progress towards becoming a world leading environmental organisation. Protecting the air that we breathe is a critical step in our journey, one that ensures the health and wellbeing of our community. This is our highest priority”.

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Why is air quality important?

Every one of us breathes more than 3,000 gallons of air per day. Air pollution can cause respiratory problems and other types of illnesses – especially in children and vulnerable people – with potentially severe long term consequences. Its damaging effects on health not only reduce standards of living, but also have significant economic ramifications due to lost productivity and higher healthcare costs.

It is not just humans there are at risk. Air pollutants also damage the wider environmental ecosystem.

Its harmful products such as acid rain pose a grave threat to wildlife, aquatic life, flora, and natural bodies of water including lakes and streams.

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Supported by:

The UAE has a target of 90 per cent adherence to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) air quality guidelines by 2021, and has focussed in particular on developing legislative frameworks to reduce pollutants and emissions in order to reduce pollutants. According to a report by the WHO: “The UAE has a very low mortality resulting from environmental consequences such as air pollution compared to other countries in the region”.

A recent study by the World Bank did find that the Emirates has the highest Particulate-matter (PM2.5) concentrations in the world. But one of the biggest contributors to PM2.5 is dust made up of sand, raised into the air by construction or windstorms – which significantly skews the data in the UAE’s desert environment. Moreover, many of the pollutants that have been monitored are thought to have originated well beyond the borders of Sharjah and the UAE more widely.

In addition, the World Bank study has been queried for relying on outdated data.

Many of the measurements are a decade old – and the bank itself conceded that the methodology “has its limitations”. An updated study is in the process of being conducted, using more monitoring stations, which will take into account recent initiatives to curb emissions in the UAE. Meanwhile, plans for Bee’ah’s Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network power ahead. The next steps include conducting an air quality assessment study,

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designing an AAQM network, and consulting with regulatory authorities to assess the locations of stations, parameters to be monitored and details of data acquisition, management, and distribution.

More widely, Bee’ah – which operates the world’s largest landfill in Al Saj’ah, Sharjah – has lofty ambitions. Its mission is to make Sharjah the first city in the Middle East to reach zero waste to landfill, by diverting 100 per cent of its waste through recycling and conversion. But, as illustrated by its air quality monitoring initiative, its environmental activities reach further than waste management, from promoting sources of renewable energy to curtailing water pollution.

“We’re dramatically reducing Sharjah’s carbon footprint and emissions to ensure sustainability for future generations”, Al Huraimel says.

“We’ve built up the largest fleet of green street cleaning vehicles in the region. We’re constantly innovating, as with our recent introduction of solar-powered double streamed bins across the Emirate. And we’re a pioneering force in environmental education, this year reaching 200,000 students through our Sharjah Environmental Awareness awards”. l

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smart technology

Technology-enabled brand communications to get more personal in 2016 The Hotwire seventh annual Communications Trends Report reveals a bold new world for communicators, powered by immense advances in the power and affordability of marketing technologies. 2016 looks set to be a ground-breaking year for the Communications industry, with brands becoming more human, personal, and meaningful in the way they communicate

“

Hotwire’s 2016 Communication Trends report gives us an indepth insight into the way the communications industry is evolving and the drivers behind these changes.

Virtual reality is a key trend in 2016 with brands using VR to create memorable brand experiences that leave lasting impressions and build interactive and immersive relationships with their target audiences,” says Sawsan Ghanem, Managing Director at Active (Digital. Marketing.

Communications), Hotwire PR’s Middle East partner the company that has released the insigtful report.

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WEBSITES WANE: Websites aren’t as important as they used to be. Since the inception of the World Wide Web marketers have tried to drive digital audiences to these “stationary”, passive platforms. The Internet of 2106 is looking different, with “websites” now agile, mobile and coming aggressively on to your smart phones and tablets in the form of smart apps such as LinkedIn Pulse and Medium. BuzzFeed also` now generates 52% of all its views away from its own website – through Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook video. The message for marketers in 2016 is clear: if you’re still singlemindedly focused on driving your audience to

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your website, you’re at risk of losing valuable leads. Talk to people where they’re comfortable, and you’ll reap the rewards. However, websites won’t be completely obsolete, but we might just see the death of them as a primary marketing channel.

OUR AUDIENCE IS KILLING ADVERTISING: Display ads and pop-ups and advertising banners are no longer effective and ruin the user’s browsing experience. This is especially true with mobile. Our smartphones are an extension of our daily lives and we resent poorly thought-out advertising intruding on our private space. The ad-blocking option has grown popular due to consumer’s intolerance of bad advertising along with slow loading times and high volume of ads. Advertisers need to adapt their strategies and find new innovative ways to target their key audience. They now have to move beyond the banner advert.

Whilst rejecting advertising, most users are clearly still highly motivated to read published content – making earned content more valuable than ever for companies looking to influence their target audience.

If you can’t pay to make your audience see your message then you need to work doubly hard on making sure the message is compelling enough for people to want to talk about it.

Getting these influencer endorsements – whether through traditional media or bloggers, vloggers or

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We’re undergoing a cultural shift.

We’re starting to understand there is no need to keep a lasting record of everything.

The pictures we take and the WhatsApp messages we send don’t need to last until the end of time because they only make sense at one precise moment.

Instagrammers will be crucial in 2016 and beyond. And if brands can’t earn them, they’ll be paying for them.

LIVING IN THE MOMENT: Digital health platform Headspace provides guided mindfulness training, is now used by more than two million people in over 150 countries. The idea behind Headspace is that you pay more attention to what you’re feeling at any given moment and focus less on external factors. This helps you maintain a more objective perspective. What we’re starting to see is people apply this to how they communicate.

Go back a few years and you will remember our need to save the entire contents of our digital lives in physical drives. Everything we created, any pictures we took, or any conversations we had would never be lost. But carrying around hard drives of our lives was a hassle. So we started uploading life to the cloud, using the likes of Dropbox, Box and Google Drive, to keep our content safe forever.

We’re undergoing a cultural shift. We’re starting to understand there is no need to keep a lasting record of everything. The pictures we take and the WhatsApp messages we send don’t need to last until the end of time because they only make sense at one precise moment.

This has resulted in explosive growth for apps like Snapchat, Periscope and Meerkat. They all do one thing brilliantly – allow you to share moments as they happen.

Snapchat was the fastest growing social network of 2014 according to the Global Web Index – overtaking Instagram to become the favorite platform for young consumers today.

But what has made these applications and services based on ephemeral content so attractive?

They mimic natural communication; they are suitable for any activity and allow us to communicate instantly, and naturally. There is no ‘plan’ to how we communicate.

Communicators need to look at how we can integrate all these new channels in to our strategies. What we are, doing in fact, is planning when to be ‘spontaneous’. When communicators do this well, they are giving audiences the authenticity they demand from their brands.

In 2016 brands will focus more on living in the moment to appear more spontaneous and natural compared to otherwise scheduled posts. Apps such as Periscope, Snapchat and Meerkat allow you to share

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experiences that are happening right now and are further changing how we communicate with our audience.

VIRTUAL REALITY – A KEY TREND FOR 2016: Consumers now want to experience the brand every step of the way, Virtual reality is a key trend in 2016, as it helps brands become more personal and also lets them stand out. We want to be able to get a sense of a brand or a product through a non-committal experience before we part with our cash.

VR can satisfy both the desire for data as well as brand experiences. But there are significant technological hurdles to cross yet. First, let’s get over the hardware hurdle. An orderly line of tech giants has formed who are getting involved in VR with Facebook, Google and Samsung leading the pack. So we’ve got the perfect hardware climate to ensure enough companies have a vested interest in the technology to guarantee one of the ‘headsets’ will become dominant and pervasive. On the content side of things, Zuckerberg is positively buzzing at the thought that soon we’ll not only be able to ignore Facebook posts online but have the distinct pleasure in physically turning our back on some of our irritating ‘Facebook friends’ in a virtual reality equivalent of the Facebook wall. But this is a myopic view of what VR could offer and why we think 2016 will see the technology become very important to us as communicators and human beings.

DEATH OF THE MILLENNIAL: In 2016, Brands will stop focusing on millennials as a separate group but will rather focus on what motivates and drives different segments of this younger audience. In order to reach them, companies will identify and engage with different channels and influencers and the type of content that relates to the audience.

Age may not be a defining factor anymore but the key dynamic is what truly drives these segments and the way they live their lives. l

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2015 December issue

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the internet of things is here to: awaken, activate and accelerate The third annual Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF) 2015 in Dubai welcomed 2,000 attendees from across the world. The event featured keynotes by leaders and experts from companies including Etisalat, Emirates, Visa, Intel, Siemens AG, Rockwell Automation, GE and Schneider Electric.

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he event showcased several innovative digital city and connected industry solution deployments of the IoT industry.

The deployments included services such as connected parking, connected lighting and waste management, alongside other vertical industries.

Attendees had the opportunity to visualize these solutions as not only connected but interconnected and able to share data.

Three key themes were in the spotlight: - AWAKEN: To the opportunities across all industries, identify multiple business cases, and help customers discover the full range of competitive advantages that IoT can bring.

- ACTIVATE: Laying out roadmaps to IoT deployments. Formulate best practices and apply key learnings from customer IoT case studies.

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- ACCELARATE: Moving the industry forward quickly. Highlight the roles that service providers and application developers must play in enabling this acceleration.

In addition to the keynotes, the World Forum also featured smart city tours of Dubai, breakout sessions, a hackathon, and a startup showcase.

John Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco, delivered a keynote at the IoTWF on how the Internet of Things is creating a new world of possibilities through digitization. As we move into this new digital era, organizations across both the private and public sectors are already beginning to rethink how they will approach the shift in infrastructures, processes and outcomes on a grand scale. It is likely to disrupt every area of society and redefine sustainability. Digitization has the potential to create a revolution in how we use resources, how we communicate, how we get work done and what we come to

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IOT will be connecting 50 billion objects by 2020 globally, revolutionizing the way we live in smart cities with consumer electronics, retail, utilities, transportation, healthcare and construction forming the majority of the device base. The vast array of applications for this exciting technology includes connected cars, smart meters, consumer electronics, game consoles, wearable electronics and security solutions. know about communities, ourselves and the world.

A special bus tour was arranged to the Dubai Design District (D3), which has implemented a wide spectrum of smart solutions and applications that use IoT technologies, which include lighting solutions, clean energy, surveillance cameras as well as environment sensors to measure carbon dioxide to limit emissions.

These applications are instrumental in making Dubai Design District one of the green fields for IoT and Smart and Connect Cities solutions.

The IoTWF 2015 also featured a Research and Innovation Symposium, where some of the world’s leading technology researchers and scholars talked about the New Frontiers of IoT research enabling a connected world.

The World Forum

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held an IoT Hackathon - a learning session and coding competition, which took place on the weekend preceding IoTWF. The Cisco Innovation Grand Challenge, which recognizes, promotes, and accelerates the adoption of breakthrough IoT technologies and products, brought together six amazing start-ups to Dubai to compete for their share of $250,000 in cash prizes. These six finalists, who were narrowed down from15 semi-finalists, got an opportunity to give their pitches live, on stage before the closing ceremony. The winners for the IoT Hackathon and Cisco Innovation Grand Challenge were announced during the event.

The event saw more than 25 customers presenting on how IoT has changed their business. Through Dubai Smart City Experience Tours, attendees were able to learn first-hand how Dubai, one of the most digitally advanced cities in the world, has connected transportation, education and healthcare across the city for a better citizen experience.

In Dubai’s command and control center, nearly all the solutions are integrated into a digital platform as part of Cisco Smart+Connected Communities. The digital platform can aggregate data from various sensors, solutions, and partner applications, conduct advanced data analytics and supports a wide spectrum of urban services.

Beyond Dubai, utilizing the digital platform in conjunction with the portfolio of Smart+Connected Communities solutions are helping cities being to achieve their digital transformation goals. For instance, a number of cities have made strides in reaching their COP21 climate goals by reducing traffic, encouraging greater use of public transit and streamlining the delivery of services to citizens. Kansas City, MO in the US, Adelaide in Australia, Hamburg, Germany and Bangalore in India, for instance, have already begun using a single digital data platform for managing their urban services.

Now more than ever, cities are required to capture and analyze data coming from the many sensors, cameras and mobile devices in use. They are employing new analytics techniques, such as fog computing, that is able to gather, process, and conduct analysis right at the edge of a network, where it can be acted upon more immediately.

To accelerate the deployment of fog technologies, a coalition of Internet of Things leaders recently announced the formation of the OpenFog Consortium. It aims to enable end-to-end technology scenarios for the Internet of Things through the development of an open architecture, core technologies including the capabilities of distributed computing, networking, and storage as well as the leadership needed to realise the full potential of IoT. Cisco is a founding member of the newly formed consortium.

Etisalat outlined the possibilities that Internet of Things holds for the present and future of the UAE, and announced its key focus areas to enable the IoT ecosystem of the country. According to the company, by 2020 energy meters across the world will be replaced by smart meters. Hundreds of data points per person will be transferred to preferred healthcare providers. Optimized commutes will reduce transport emissions by 50%. Beacons, connected commerce and machine learning is expected to generate nearly AED 5.5 billion worldwide.

The connected car ecosystem will pave the way for autonomous driving and millions of critical assets will be fitted with sensors to create

2015 December issue

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smart technology

a new approach as products and services, enabling growth of start-ups and entrepreneurs globally.

To help businesses realize their IoT strategies, Etisalat has made investments in some of the core components such as multi–access technologies, IoT specific network, IoT security, IoT control and command center and IoT platform.

The key facilities the cities will be able to provide using IoT technology and smart applications and devices are: M2M Control Centre Smart building solutions Smart metering solutions Fleet management solutions Smart parking solutions Smart lighting solutions Waste management solutions Smart surveillance solutions Smart vending solutions The Dubai Police connected car showcased at IoTWF uses Lynx Rugged Vehicle Router designed to create a vehicle area network and integrates Cisco 5921 Embedded Services Router to provide mission-critical communications across national and international LTE network frequency bands.

The car communicates to the command and control server using VPN hosted on Etisalat LTE and managed by Cisco's 2921 Integrated Services Router, which delivers highly secure data, voice, video, application services.

The in-vehicle and on-body applications include video, GPS, officer biometrics, and vehicle telemetry. Vendor partners for the solution include Cisco and Telecommunication Systems for connectivity, Davra Networks for IoT Gateway, and Hexoskin for officer biometrics.

The IoT will be connecting 50 billion objects by 2020 globally, revolutionizing companies and sectors, particularly smart cities, consumer electronics, retail, utilities, transportation, healthcare and construction, that will form the majority of the device base. The vast array of applications for this exciting technology includes connected cars, fleet management, smart meters, consumer electronics, game consoles, wearable electronics and security solutions. l

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2015 December issue

THE SMART DUBAI WEBSITE Smart Dubai has launched its official website Smartdubai.ae, the information gateway to Dubai’s Smart City initiative.

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nnounced at a press conference at the Internet of Things (IoT) World Forum 2015, the website Smartdubai.ae provides comprehensive information on the city’s efforts to realize the vision of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to make Dubai the world’s smartest and happiest city.

Smartdubai.ae presents the public with a comprehensive profile of the Smart Dubai initiative, detailing its vision, mission and strategy to become a seamless, safe, efficient and impactful city for all residents and visitors.

Featuring a clean, modern design and content-rich website experience, Smartdubai.ae provides the public with access to the Smart Dubai Roadmap, a high-level report on existing and upcoming initiatives and services being implemented by strategic partners of the initiative. Smartdubai.ae will feature information on these initiatives and news about their progress.

“The website was designed with the end-user in mind. We wanted to create an exemplary user experience and serve as a single access point for information on all the initiatives and services that exist within the Smart Dubai umbrella,” said Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General of the Smart Dubai Office.

The website also showcases the initiatives and accomplishments of strategic partners that are contributing to the Smart Dubai vision, apart from featuring stories about ‘smart’ innovations, solutions and best practices from within the city. Stories about innovations driven by the people and businesses of Dubai who are contributing to the Smart Dubai vision will be featured on the website.

The Smart Dubai initiative is supported by a tiered partnership framework, enabling government, private-sector and institutional partnerships to encourage engagement and collaboration in achieving the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed.

Smartdubai.ae offers access to the first white paper to be published by the Smart Dubai initiative, “A Collaborative Approach to Smart Cities”, which outlines Smart Dubai’s unique strategy to transform Dubai into a unique smart city that will be a model and benchmark for such initiatives. The website also offers perspectives on global trends and developments related to smart cities from around the world.

“We hope that the website opens Smart Dubai, and in turn the city, to the global community, and creates a knowledge-base for other cities as well as an access point for future partners,” Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr said.

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INNOVATION FOR AEROSPACE TRANSFORMATION Globalisation, manufacturing, automation, connectivity and technological advancements to frame Global Aerospace Summit next year in Abu Dhabi

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s the UAE celebrated innovation week, global aviation and aerospace industry leaders identified key innovation areas they believe will transform the aviation, aerospace, defence and space industries in the near future.

The leaders – members of an elite advisory board for next year’s Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi – say the engines behind innovation will be globalisation, automated manufacturing, heightened connectivity and technological advancements at break-neck speeds.

Jeff Johnson, President, Boeing Middle East, explained that major breakthroughs will drive the industry over the next 10 years. He added that for organisations like Boeing it will be about getting more for less and breaking the cost

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2015 December issue

curve. For Johnson, the key questions facing the 1,000 invited industry leaders due at the Summit next March are the use of new materials, the impact of automation, increased platform commonality and how open avionics can drive capabilities while the platforms keep costs down.

Johnson commented: “We will continue to see manufacturing overseas and we believe we’ve got a great strategy here. The government of the UAE has planned where it wants to go with aerospace manufacturing and space.

You go over to India and they have a ‘Make in India’ strategy so I think we are going to see manufacturing and tech transfer that

“A good example of this is the new automated assembly line that we have developed to build our new gear tripod fan family of engines. With the new assembly line we have roughly 30% more productivity that we had with the old method of manufacturing engines. So it’s innovations like that, not just in design but in manufacturing technology, that allows us to be more productive.”

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transport

will drive globalisation in the next 10 years.”

David P. Hess, Senior Vice President, Aerospace Business Development, United Technologies, pinpointed increased productivity and workforce development as transformational areas.

Hess commented: “A good example of this is the new automated assembly line that we have developed to build our new gear tripod fan family of engines. With the new assembly line we have roughly 30% more productivity that we had with the old method of manufacturing engines. So it’s innovations like that, not just in design but in manufacturing technology, that allows us to be more productive.”

Chafik Hilal, Managing Director Middle East, Rockwell Collins explained the aerospace industry has always been a catalyst for innovative strategies and technology and an engine for economic growth but highlighted future challenges including costs, the development rate time and even the life of the air planes.

Hilal commented: “One of the things that will take this to the next level is connectivity. Right now passengers want the ability to arrive and transit through the airport and get in the air as fast as they can and this is part of the innovation I can see for the future – connectivity - where they get in

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and in a very short time are flying. And once they are on the flight they want to be connected like they were on the ground. This is a very exciting time and we will see it in the very near future.”

Hosted by Mubadala Development Company and organised by Streamline Marketing Group (SMG), the Summit will run at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on March 7 and 8, 2016.

Nick Webb, Managing Partner of SMG said Summit outcomes will be a window into the vital industries of the future.

“The advisory board has been unanimous in identifying innovation as the summit’s overall theme and believe its discussions will give us a road map for industries whose advancements will impact their own sectors, but feed out into others.”

The Global Aerospace Summit 2016, the third in the biannual series, is part of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Aviation and Aerospace Week, which is held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. l

2015 December issue

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Health & Community

GCC Tourist Spending to Top $70 Billion Over Next Five Years Hospitality and Retail Sectors Two of Middle East’s Fastest-Growing for Audiovisual Technology, from Digital Signage to Guest Room Automation

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ospitality and retail will be two of the Middle East’s faster-growing sectors for technology, as tourists from the GCC are set to spend more than US$70 billion over the next five years, industry experts announced today.

By 2019, tourists from the GCC are set to spend US$73 billion, according to Dinar Standard.

Thanks to the rising tourism demand for mega-events such as World Expo 2020 in Dubai and the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, the region’s hospitality and retail sectors are set to adopt audiovisual technology solutions such as digital signage, guest room control and wayfinding.

As a result, the Middle East and Africa’s audiovisual market for hospitality and retail combined is set to reach US$782 million by 2016, a 65 percent growth from

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2015 December issue

US$474 million in 2012, according to a report by InfoComm International.

In the UAE, hospitality will be the country’s fastest-growing audiovisual segment, at a CAGR of 17 percent to 2016. Dubai is forecast to see strong growth, with the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing projecting 25 million visitors for World Expo 2020.

“Hotel complexes and malls are the center for social life in the Middle East. Integrating LED seamless display walls with Big Data analytics can enhance the guest experience by capturing shoppers’ attention with mall-wide entertainment, trying on clothes virtually, and supporting advertising innovation,” said Jozef Dusenka, CEO, Leyard EMEA a leading LED manufacturer in the global high-end display market.

The Younger Face Of Marketing Digital signage in particular is rapidlyadvancing, with 4K ultra-high definition LED

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health & Community

walls opening up new retail opportunities, according to InfoComm International.

“From ultra-high-definition slim bezel monitors to a range of intelligent, interactive LED displays, Sharp’s stand will dazzle visitors with a new line up of products and solutions that embrace style, design and intelligent innovation, suitable for hotels, restaurants, and retail outlets,” said Ravinder Kumar, General Manager, Business Solutions Division, Sharp Middle East and Africa.

Robust audio systems can also enhance the guest ambience, whether setting the mood in a restaurant, providing an immersive concert-going experience, or unique shopping experience.

How The Hospitality Industry Can Move Forward For Middle East hotels and malls to implement the audiovisual solutions, they need integrated back-end control and automation systems to centrally monitor, manage, and control lighting, temperature, security, digital signage, and audio and video.

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“Audiovisual systems can no longer work in separate silos - rather control and automation systems bring together data from various audiovisual technologies to analyze venue and mobile device usage, run remote diagnostics, and schedule maintenance – ensuring the top-line guest experience,” said Robin van Meeuwen, CEO, Crestron EMEA.l

2015 December issue

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Food & Agriculture

Policies and innovations to drive UAE agriculture The Ministry of Environment and Water has launched first-of-theirkind environment-related initiatives dubbed ‘Drop of Life,’ ‘Biological Filter,’ and ‘Innovation in Agricultural Work’ on the second day of the first-ever UAE Innovation Week celebrations

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ntroduced in Al Hamraniya, Ras al-Khaimah, the national ‘Drop of Life’ initiative focuses on a prototype device designed to draw moisture from air and turn it into water for plant irrigation in hopes of preventing water shortage and preserving groundwater supply. Sufficient water supply is one of the UAE’s fundamental national indicators.

A prototype model of the Biological Filter Project was also showcased. The device was brought to an organic production farm in AlKhawaneej, Dubai, to demonstrate how it can be used in organic farming, especially in terms of production, agricultural marketing, soil fertility, and seed production. The project is aligned with the Ministry’s aim to develop local organic farming.

The ‘Agricultural E-Guide’ initiative is a website that aims to attract innovative ideas in the field of agriculture from UAE

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2015 December issue

citizens and residents, as well as those living outside the country. The proposals are reviewed by experts and water specialists to assess their impact and applicability, as well as determine how these ideas can be turned into concrete projects backed by technological support from the Ministry.

The e-guide will provide the answers to all inquiries and inform interested individuals about the best international practices and benefits. The site has been designed to include several features to aid the agricultural sector, local farmers, and those involved in organic farming, beekeeping and agricultural marketing.

It will help facilitate agreements between the Ministry of Environment and Water and cooperative groups to find markets for and promote domestic products as well as seek solutions to challenges facing the local farming sector.

In another boost for the UAE’s farming sector the country’s first agricultural policy was recently submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Water.

Formulated by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), along with agricultural organizations in the UAE, the 126-page-document includes policies on improving the country’s agro-food system.

“It will be the essential document for everything that the UAE will implement in the field of agriculture towards the UAE vision 2021 and 2030,” said Mehdi Drissi, FAO representative in the UAE and FAO subregional coordinator for the GCC and Yemen.

“The policy has implications on subsidies given to farms and farmers and will have to look at the national policy and do what is explicitly there.”

Mr Drissi expected the policy to receive the approval

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Food & Agriculture

“It is necessary for all countries to have such a policy because it brings benefits,” he said. “The UAE are champions of sustainable development and the strategy focuses on that. It strongly takes into account what was decided in New York at the previous general assembly with the 17 new sustainable development goals and 169 objectives. The policy is based on that.”

of Dr Rashid bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, before the year’s end, after which it would be implemented immediately.

“It is necessary for all countries to have such a policy because it brings benefits,” he said. “The UAE are champions of sustainable development and the strategy focuses on that. It strongly takes into account what was decided in New York at the previous general assembly with the 17 new sustainable development goals and 169 objectives. The policy is based on that.”

The document, he said, outlined the next 15 years of agriculture in the UAE. “The former strategy, it had lacked a lot of things,” he said. “This is an essential document.”

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2015 December issue

While the UAE is not considered an agricultural country, with about 90 per cent of its food imported, it has tried to grow as many crops as possible, especially during the cooler winter months, in greenhouses.

“The magnitude of the challenges, when it comes to sustainability in food production and water usage, facing not only the UAE but also other waterstressed parts of the world and the entire human population in one way or another, is significant,” said Nicholas Lodge, managing partner at Clarity, an Abu Dhabi-based agricultural consultancy. “Work such as that done by the FAO, together with the UAE Government, which aims to apply a long-term and holistic approach, recognizing economic and environmental issues, along with social and human aspects, is certainly positive,” he adds.

Universities are also encouraging locals to get involved. Prof Fatme Al Anouti of the College of Sustainability and Human Sciences at Zayed University, said young Emiratis were increasingly becoming interested in the topic. “We had the undergraduate research forum last week and one of the projects was about food security in the UAE. “It’s important for them to be aware of it because we’re running out of resources. We need to secure food and they need to come up with strategies to make sure there is enough food and resources in the future.” l

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