Smart Dubai Partners with outlier Ventures for decentralized Data Sandbox

he new programme will bring public and private sector organisations together with a selection of decentralised protocols to create the open data Sandbox, offering developers completely open access to Dubai’s data so they can build exciting new services.

Smart Dubai, the government office charged with facilitating Dubai’s citywide smart transformation, has launched a research report signaling its intention to make its data strategy the most forward thinking in the world. Dubai is planning to launch ‘Decentralised Data for Dubai’, a programme that will see the creation of an open data ‘Sandbox’ which will enable enterprises and city stakeholders to derive value from Dubai’s data to create apps that improve people’s lives. It will be built using a range of decentralised technologies from the Outlier Ventures ‘Convergence Stack’, potentially including Sovrin, Ocean Protocol and Fetch.AI. The move lays the foundation for Dubai’s citizens to benefit from an explosion of innovation from open data, made accessible to an increasingly diverse range of active participants in the city data market.

 Decentralised Data for Dubai was conceived following a research report into smart city development undertaken jointly between Smart Dubai and Outlier Ventures. The findings of the report underlined the opportunities presented by the convergence of emerging technologies such as AI, DLT and IoT to transform city services for citizens and enterprises. Cryptographically assured open networks were found to be the vital enabler for delivering the next stage of open data infrastructure.   Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director-General, Smart Dubai, and Chief Executive Officer, Smart Dubai Data commented: “Cities such as Dubai are ideally placed to help stakeholders strike the right balance between data that are owned and controlled centrally, and more dispersed models.” He continued: “We intend to move carefully and confidently towards a future in which open data repositories like our own Dubai Pulse Platform Data will combine with decentralised technologies such as blockchain, open data marketplaces and ‘digital agents/representatives’ to put data in the hands of those who will create genuine societal and economic value from it.”  Smart Dubai Data, the organisation tasked with unleashing the maximum value from the Emirate’s data, will be heavily involved in the creation of Decentralised Data for Dubai. The new programme will bring public and private sector organisations together with a selection of decentralised protocols to create the open data Sandbox, offering developers completely open access to Dubai’s data so they can build exciting new services. The initiative will be supported by a range of working groups and a two day hackathon that challenges developers to build prototypes (further details to be announced).  Smart Dubai Data will take a broad and thorough approach to working with the market on its journey towards adopting decentralised approaches.  The Decentralised Data for Dubai Sandbox will be part of this, in which a number of decentralised protocols will be explored, including Ocean Protocol for decentralised data exchange, the Sovrin Foundation for decentralised identity management and Fetch.AI, a provider of a ‘decentralised digital world’ and ‘digital agent’ technology. Ocean, Sovrin and Fetch.AI are all Outlier Ventures portfolio companies and form part of the ‘Convergence Stack’, a set of complementary base layer protocols that can work in unison to compete effectively with today’s underlying web technology.    Jamie Burke, CEO, Outlier Ventures added: “Today’s web has evolved in a direction its creators didn’t foresee. It’s an economic model policy makers and the world at large are now realising is sub-optimal, unsustainable and one that holds back innovation. Decentralised Data for Dubai is a bold  move by Smart Dubai that signals its belief in the potential of truly open data to unleash economic and societal value.” He continued: “At Outlier we believe the Convergence Stack will  drastically expedite the adoption of Web 3.0 making data usable by a wider number of participants so innovation can flourish and economic value can be realised right the way across the data ecosystem.”  The move makes Dubai the first city in the world to signal its intention to transition to a data infrastructure capable of delivering a truly open and equitable data strategy for the benefits of its citizens.   The report can also be downloaded from this link https://outlierventures.io/research/decentralised-and-open-data-turns-dubai-into-a-smart-city/