Mohammad: Utilise innovation, science to serve people

Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid tours exhibition that houses 13 government innovations from 12 countries.

Dubai: The World Government Summit has successfully been transformed into a global platform for innovation that embraces talents and inspires governments to harness science and technology to serve the humanity, said His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Saturday.

Shaikh Mohammad on Saturday visited the “Creative Governments Exhibition” which is being hosted by the World Government Summit and organised by the Mohammad Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation.

The exhibition, which houses 13 government innovations from 12 countries around the world, will see sharing a number of unique governmental experiences inspired by a report on the “Global trends in government innovation” which was drafted by the Mohammad Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Shaikh Mohammad said innovation in government is not an intellectual luxury, neither is it an administrative one nor a propaganda, it is the secret of governments’ existence and renewal as well as the renaissance of people and prosperity of states.

“This exhibition sets a good example of how the utilisation of science, innovation and creativeness can serve people and what the wise leadership can do when science, work and interests of citizens are the driving force towards the best,” Shaikh Mohammad added.

Shaikh Mohammad toured various facilities of the exhibition and praised the efforts being made by the exhibition’s curators and organisers.

The exhibition, as Shaikh Mohammad noted, cements the UAE’s position as a global reference for knowledge and science and as an incubator for innovations and creative works in all areas of government action.

“When governments work based on innovation, its atmosphere will be based on innovation as well and when it encourages innovation and creative work, its people’s potential unleashes towards new ambitions; their talents are developed in harmony and the achievement of their dreams and aspirations become perfectly possible. This is the secret behind the success of countries that encourage their peoples to innovate,” he said.

Shaikh Mohammad lauded the UAE government’s advanced system, saying that the main reason behind the government’s excellence is running the public institutions based on innovation, like private ones — institutions that compete with the private sector, operate in the same pattern, adopt the best practices and measure their services and activities as is being done by the private sector.

Shaikh Mohammad was accompanied by Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future and Chairman of the WGS Organisation; Uhoud Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness; and Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman, Director-General of Dubai Protocol and Hospitality Department.

This year’s edition of the exhibition introduces to the visitors the “Olympic project” which focuses on analysing microbes coexisting with human beings or with other organisms. It will also review experiments of local Japanese municipalities and the innovative experiment of Portugal in organising national events.

The exhibition will also see the Ministry of Environment of Peru sharing its experience in using eagles to locate illegal landfills.