Technology drives knowledge-based economy

Discussion at Government Summit looks at how technology impacts government services.

Technology is one of the key ingredients driving forward a knowledge-based economy, and with 21st century government initiatives such as Smart City and Smart Learning recently introduced in the UAE, its scope is set to see the country thrive in the future.

Joe Macri, Microsoft’s vice-president for Europe, Middle East and Africa ; Peter Baron; Danny Van Heck; and Mohammed Amin, EMC’s senior vice-president MEA; during the panel discussion on ‘Impacting the future of government services: How technology can enhance the lives of citizens’.- KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd

During a panel discussion looking at how technology impacts government services at the Dubai Government Summit on Tuesday, SAP representative Danny Van Heck said technology doesn’t just aid an economy, it drives it.

And although constant innovations could present challenges for governments in regard to the way they behaved, it would also breed new opportunities for them.

Van Heck said in order for governments to better serve their citizens, it was important that they listened to them, adding that social media was a great platform for this.

“It is technology which allows us to gauge this type of information. Governments have to get input from the public and they can leverage capabilities from social media. This then allows them to measure the sentiment on peoples’ feedback, whether it is positive or negative,” he said.

By taking this information and analysing it, Van Heck believes that governments can use it to drive forward care programmes for the future, which is where the real changes would come. During the session, Google representative Peter Baron said, in the past, government services used to rely only on one-way traffic, but now it is a two-way thing.

“This is an industry that does not respect tradition, it respects innovation.” And as advancements in technology are constantly moving forward, he agreed with Van Heck by saying it was important to keep the door open for citizen interaction.

“People can help improve government services by having their say. They are the ones being directly affected by the decision-making, and interaction through technology means they get to be a part of the process.” Referring to today’s ‘digital natives’, Van Heck said people nowadays are connected online, 24/7, and have high expectations on what is moving forward in the digital age.

So with technology consuming and influencing everyday behaviour, it was vital that the UAE government continued on its path of breeding a generation which embraced technological advances.

“It is all about innovation and moving with the times,” he said.

Spotlighting just how important technology is in 2014, Van Heck made reference to his own family members to show how human behaviour has been influenced by it.

“I have two daughters and I see them leaving the house most days without their purses, keys or bags. But they never go anywhere without their mobile phones.”

He said this was common practice nowadays, as this was how people interacted with one another.

“Most transactions are mobile nowadays. People make bank transactions using their phones, and more and more we are seeing them interacting with their government departments using different technologies. At the end of the day, it is all about convenience.”

kelly@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE