With the demand for smart homes on the rise worldwide and the ever-increasing number of smart cities, Dubai was unlikely to miss out. Demand for smart home systems in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is on the increase. With their ‘Smart City’ project and Initiative 2021, Dubai aims to be one of the world’s best-connected, smartest, and happiest cities by 2017. Here’s a market snapshot of intelligent initiatives specific to Dubai, contextualized for the global smart city landscape.

The predominant focus of smart home customers in the Middle East is temperature and lighting control. In addition, controlling the audiovisual system in the house ranks high in the smart home choice. The focus is all about making life more comfortable and efficient.

“There has been a rise in the number of smart home system installations in Dubai and today almost every luxury villa is equipped with one. Smart home automated systems are important for any house when it comes to energy savings and efficiency,” says Appu Mathews for Shifra Smart Solutions, a Dubai-based smart home services provider. “Dubai is the best performing market in the region followed by Qatar and in five years we are convinced that, as in Europe or the U.S., smart home systems will become accessible and mandatory at least to save energy.”

World’s first solar air conditioners launched in the UAE

Gree Electric Appliances Inc., a major appliance manufacturer based in China, has introduced variable refrigerant flow (VRF) air-conditioners in the UAE. A world first, these hybrid solar-electric air conditioners will be able to work on zero power from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa). NIA Limited Co. will be the distributors of the air conditioners in Dubai.

“This product is a testament to our commitment to support Dubai’s Plan 2021 and the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, which aims to develop sustainable energy projects by increasing targets for renewable energy in the emirate’s energy mix to seven per cent by 2020 and 15 per cent by 2030,” stated Zakir Ahmed, the managing director of NIA Limited, UAE.

The best part of the solar air conditioners is that the grid will store any excess electricity and consumers will then earn Dewa credits.

Global smart cities

The construction of smart cities is on the rise worldwide, due to the need for sustainable infrastructure. From 2013 to 2019, the global smart cities market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 percent, reaching $1,265.85 billion in 2019. In the research report titled “Global Smart Cities Market – Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 – 2019”, by Transparency Market Research, it cites North America as the largest shareholder in the smart cities market. In 2012, it had a share of 34.5 percent, with that number expected to rise over the coming years.

Last year, India’s newly elected Prime Minister announced his ambitious plan of building 100 smart cities around India. Last month Bristol, UK announced ‘Bristol is open’, a multi-million pound project to create the smart city of the future. While in Japan, the national government has selected 13 locations for its Eco-Model Cities (EMC) scheme, including Kitakyushu, Kyoto, Sakai and Yokohama.

Dubai Smart City Project and Initiative 2021

Dubai is also joining the party with the aim of becoming one of the world’s best-connected, smartest, and happiest cities by 2017. They launched the ‘Smart City’ project in 2014, whose objective is to make more than 1,000 government services ‘go smart’ in the next two years. “Smart City’s main aim is to provide better connections and increase cooperation between the emirate and its residents. It promotes the use of government facilities using the largest possible number of smart applications,” stated Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

In order to achieve their goal of being one of the world’s best-connected, smartest and happiest cities Dubai launched ‘Initiative 2021’ last year. The aim is to change the way Dubai residents interact with the government, creating greater efficiency and increased speed of delivery. Customers will be able to access all their government services through one identification number. Initiative 2021 would do away with the managing of multiple government documents, accounts and applications. Customers would also have access to a personal account page through which they can access all their government services, including updates on transactions, pending procedures, outstanding payments etc.

World Expo 2020

In November 2013, the UAE won the right to host the World Expo in 2020, a first for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA). The event lasts six months, beginning in October 2020, and expects to attract 25 million visits. The theme for 2020 is Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, with sub themes of Mobility, Sustainability and Opportunity. They are aiming to generate 50 percent of the energy requirements from renewable sources on-site. While they also plan to monitor carbon footprint, achieve neutral water balance and manage material recycling and reuse, with 30 percent of the building materials made out of recycled aggregate content.

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