2016•12•18     Dubai

UNU-EGOV attended the 4th Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart Government Awards through the presence of its Academic Fellow Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen. He was invited to be part of an independent jury of 38 experts from 18 different countries. The ceremony took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 18 December 2016 and is the culmination of the annual government improvement cycle for Smart Government and service delivery and recognises the efforts and achievements within the public sector. Each initiative was evaluated in a multi-phase, rigorous process, based on document results and pioneering practices by Government entities.

The Dubai Model for Smart Government  (Smart Dubai Gov) is a unique tool facilitating public sector innovation. The Dubai Model translates the vision and policies of the government into actual programmes and projects, resulting in improved service quality and cost-efficiency. Launched in 2013, both The Dubai Model and the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart Government Awards are coordinated by Dubai The Model Centre, a unit within the Executive Council of Dubai. The model is considered a world’s first and is an integral programme tool laying the foundation of the Smart Government initiative in Dubai. Its aim is to transform current practices to the Smart Government Model and actively encourage cooperation between service providers from various sectors, including different partnerships with the private sector and civil society.

The awards itself aim at several goals, including to motivate and reward public authorities which achieve significant and sustained improvement in public services and service centres in an annual 12 month improvement cycle. The awards recognise initiatives and promote public services, while having also demonstrated pioneering and innovative methods. Similarly, the awards shed light on the efforts of public service providers – both teams and individuals – for their active role in driving positive change and increase trust in public services provided by the Government of Dubai. Lastly, they allow for the dissemination of knowledge and practice.

The 19 finalists were selected by a fully independent jury, of 38 experts from 18 countries. Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen, one of the jury members, has more than a decade of work in the field of e-Government and ICT and is involved in UNU-EGOV projects such as EGOV for Public Service Delivery  and EGOV for Administrative Burden Reduction. He is also a researcher at the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

For more information:

• Picture gallery
• Video gallery