Government

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has today organised the 4th Creativity and Innovation Conference. The event was attended by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, HE Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, international experts, decision makers, and a large number of staff from government and private organisations in Dubai, and DEWAs partners.

The conference was held at Grand Hyatt hotel in Dubai. It demonstrated DEWAs commitment to support creative ideas and innovative projects to provide the best services, present and implement promising new ideas that help in service development, achieve the satisfaction and happiness of customers, and develop innovative and creative capabilities for DEWAs operations. This is part of DEWAs commitment to achieve its vision to become a sustainable world-class utility.

DEWA is organising this conference in line with the vision and directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the National Innovation Strategy, which His Highness launched to make the UAE one of the most innovative countries in the world. The UAEs current annual investment in innovation is worth AED 14 billion, of which AED 7 billion is budgeted for research and development. And it will increase in the next few years. Commenting on the launch of the National Innovation Strategy, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has said that, The UAE, under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, is already the most innovative Arab nation. Our target is to be among the most innovative nations in the world. The race to be competitive demands a constant flow of new ideas, as well as innovative leadership using different methods and tools to direct the change, said Al Tayer in his keynote speech at the conference.

Innovation is a key pillar and a corporate value, which we adopt at DEWA. We work to implement the directives of His Highness to improve government work in all areas, foster a culture of creativity and innovation, and disseminate and spread it as an official standard practice. This will help to develop government services, face challenges, and contribute to improving the efficiency and performance of government work. DEWA adopts an integrated strategy to stimulate and implement creative ideas and suggestions, and research in renewable energy and water. We are also committed to adopting the best studies and research in all our operations and services, enhancing our leading position, and achieving our vision to become a sustainable world-class utility, he added.

The innovative initiatives implemented by DEWA include the launch of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the most remarkable project in the region. A Research and Development Centre was established in the Solar Park to develop renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, innovations and education in the field of renewable energy. The centre aims to provide innovative solutions to improve operations, support implementation of the latest technology within DEWA, build capabilities that are able to drive research and development and service delivery, evaluate job opportunities in the most important fields of innovation, develop a network of partners, attract local stakeholders, and guide and sponsor Emiratis by providing educational training and other programmes. It also aims to raise awareness about climate change and sustainable energy. Research areas in the centre include special projects, water, energy efficiency, smart grids, and solar power. The centre will help to adopt a strategic perspective to keep pace with scientific and research developments in renewable energy, to support the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 to diversify the energy mix of Dubai, and promote energy efficiency. We are also in the process of launching a creativity centre, solar-power test centre, and an energy academy, based on best practices in these fields.

DEWAs strategy in creativity and innovation has several themes. These include developing a culture of creativity and innovation inside and outside of DEWA, as well as systematic mechanisms to transfer creative ideas from concept to application and measure its impact. It also includes enhancing the capabilities of people, allocating the necessary financial and technological resources, building strong international partnerships in creativity and innovation, and supporting DEWAs direction to establish its role as a key player in supporting creativity and innovation at the global level, to achieve the National Agenda and the UAE Vision 2021, to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world by 2021.

To support the newly-launched Dubai Innovation Strategy to make Dubai the worlds most innovative city, DEWA is working on institutionalising creativity and innovation in its day-to-day activities to improve its services and achieve the happiness of its customers. To achieve this, DEWA has launched the Innovation Centre, which is based on executive mechanisms that include three themes: adopting creative ideas and proposals from our Tawasol programme, the Creativity Lab, The Suggestions Team, and the ongoing development of creative ideas. We also work continuously to find creative ways to improve our services. We emphasise the high reliability of DEWAs electricity and water services by implementing the best international practices, added Al Tayer.

We introduced the Creativity Lab experience at the Strategy Launch Workshop 2014-2018. Work teams discussed opportunities for improvement, and development of creative solutions in a brainstorming session based on the results of a campaign DEWA launched on social media to communicate with all its partners and stakeholders, and share their ideas to establish excellence and implement its strategic programmes and initiatives. DEWA constantly exchanges ideas and suggestions with various partners and stakeholders in the public and private sectors to make use of individual and collective ideas, according to a vision that is based on creativity and innovation as an established approach to achieve common objectives and improve work as a whole. One of the key results of the workshop was establishing the Research and Development Centre and assigning a budget of AED 150 million to provide innovative solutions in DEWA, improve operations, and implement the latest technologies to advance research and development, he noted.

Innovation and creativity are the cornerstone of our organisational approach. We strive to achieve the best results thanks to the best processes, practices, and experiences we develop and implement. Thats why, at each session of this conference, we are keen to host leading global experts and speakers to come up with recommendations and promising new ideas that help to improve organisational performance, and develop creative and innovative services for our customers. Our efforts in this field have led to DEWA winning several prestigious awards at the national and global levels. To mention a few, DEWA has won the Ideas Emirates Award 2014 for innovation in promoting e-Government, the Innovation in Smart Government award at Ideas UAE 2014 Conference, the Innovation Award at Ideas UK 2014, and the Best Programme Administrator of the year at the 71st Ideas America Conference, concluded Al Tayer.

DEWA organises the Creativity and Innovation Conference each year. We invite international experts to speak and share their ideas at its lectures and sessions, which discuss the importance of innovation and creativity in organisational work, and how to develop innovative and creative capabilities. This is part of our commitment to provide the best services, and to incubate creativity and adopt and exchange the best solutions and international practices said Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA.

The conference included two sessions. The first was called How innovative leaders inspire their teams and drive creativity, which was presented by Paul Sloane, an international expert. The second session Creativity is a journey not a goal was presented by Anthony Denatale, Senior Specialist of Innovation and Creativity at DEWA.

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