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Dubai - Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has updated its vision to include innovation to become 'a sustainable and innovative world class utility. The move supports the National Innovation Strategy, launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to position the UAE as one of the most innovative countries in the world. It also supports the Dubai Innovation Strategy, announced by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, to make Dubai the most innovative city in the world, DEWA's efforts to drive innovation and creativity in energy, renewable and clean energy, and water. The new vision was announced at a workshop DEWA organised recently to discuss its strategy for 2021. The workshop was led by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, and was attended by DEWA's management and staff.
"The vision and guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum are the foundation on which we improve our services and make society happier. His Highness views every effort by the government makes people happy and content. Achieving people's interest is a government priority before anything else, and this makes it imperative for the government to be proactive and innovative, competing with itself -- not waiting or delaying -- rather it foresees prospects for the future. DEWA supports the efforts of our wise leadership to establish the position of Dubai and the UAE as a platform for innovation and as a creativity incubator. This supports the Dubai Innovation Strategy, which emphasises that innovation is a priority for improving government services and initiatives and a basis to develop strategies and work plans in all fields, "said Al Tayer.
"Innovation in itself is not an addition to DEWA's strategy. Innovation is a key pillar and a corporate value, which we adopt at DEWA. We adopt a comprehensive strategy to stimulate and implement creative ideas and suggestions across all areas of energy and water. Adding innovation to our vision motivates staff further and opens the door for them to come up with new innovative ideas to improve performance, achieve the best results, and build a culture of creativity and innovation across all levels. This in turn will contribute to further enhancing our services, and improving efficiency and performance. This supports the Dubai Plan 2021, for Dubai Government to be proactive and creative in meeting the needs of individuals and society as a whole," added Al Tayer.
"We work to institutionalise a culture of creativity and innovation in DEWA, and find innovative ways to improve our services. We provide highly reliable electricity and water services by adopting the best international practices in creativity and efficiency. DEWA introduced the Creativity Lab experience at its Strategy 2014-2018 Workshop. Work teams discussed opportunities for improvement, and the development of creative solutions. Our efforts in this field have led to DEWA winning several prestigious national and global awards. 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," said Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at DEWA.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park Centre houses an Innovation centre, and a Research and Development Centre for renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, innovations and education in renewable energy. It also has a solar-power testing facility 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, and evaluate job opportunities in innovation.
DEWA launches many initiatives and programmes that support and encourage creativity and innovation at various levels, such as the Creativity Lab, which HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum visited. The teams discussed five topics: Sustainability, Smart City, Creativity in Customer Services, Happiness, and Research, Development and Innovation. DEWA also launched brainstorming campaigns for its staff, partners, and stakeholders using social media. It organised the Creativity Lab for Contractors and Consultants, to listen to the views of contractors and consultants and their suggestions for improving and speeding up getting electricity and water services according to world-class practices. DEWA recently launched its MyDEWAIdeas portal, to encourage staff to put forward their ideas and creative suggestions. DEWA launched several other initiatives to identify different views and proposals. DEWA believes in the importance of brainstorming as a well-established methodology in organisational decision-making to reach a happy society in Dubai.
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For more information, please contact:
Ribal Dayekh/Noora Khoory
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority
+9714 515 1784
ribal.dayekh@dewa.gov.ae
noora.khoory@dewa.gov.ae
Mutasem Shadid/Mazen Alebrahem
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller
+9714 450 7675/450 7613
mutasem.shadid@bm.com
Mazen.Alebrahem@bm.com
© Press Release 2015
