7. SMART DUBAI: Accelerating Innovation and Leapfrogging E-Democracy

Democracy means a million-different transaction of information to a million-different people, so does E-democracy with the help of information technology system and social media. At present the world is experiencing a dramatic “E-democracy evolution.” In this evolution, the role and interests of the current and future activities of all sectors—government, public and citizen is undergoing an immense transformation. The transformation is rapid and continuous for many cities of the world and Dubai is one such city which is progressing steadily in the sector of online activities to achieve the greater goals of E-democracy. Innovation has played a major role in the region. With immense support from the ruler and his extremely progressive vision, Dubai residents has shown readiness and activeness that has supported government smart strategies and in return, the government took responsibility by continuously creating jobs for the citizens. This chapter is a presentation of a framework which shows how UAE and Dubai has developed a strategy in many sectors including the field of non- oil sectors where smart technologies and innovations of government and resident’s collaborative approach has resulted in the strong bonding between the public and private sector and eventually became responsible in the growth of the country. The chapter illustrates the potential role of government in introducing smart technologies and letting the residents enable the transformation of traditional identities into state of the art-digital identities. Further, the chapter highlights the impact of oil prices and the government’s renewable energy initiatives to keep the pace of development unaffected and transform the country into a green country through its effective policies and world class project development by the year 2030 using underline strong bonding of government and its people- setting a unique feature of democracy.