Gitex Day 2 – smart cities and future mobility

Microsoft releases Work Reworked study for 2020

Microsoft released its findings from this year’s Work Reworked Report carried out by the Boston Consulting Group and KRC Research. Microsoft’s Work Reworked research provides insight into how companies can best support and empower workers as remote and hybrid working becomes the ‘new normal’. A survey of 611 leaders and employees in large enterprises within the UAE examined people’s experience since the beginning of the pandemic as remote ways of working became common, and also asked about expectations around the future.

At the 40th GITEX Technology week this year, Microsoft showcased an array of innovations and collaboration tools, including the latest Surface devices, empowering modern, inclusive, and productive workplaces of the future.

Etisalat demonstrates the future of mobility and smart retail

This year at GITEX, Etisalat is introducing new mobility segments along with 5G connectivity in commercial and regional as well as inter-regional aerial transport. This in line with Etisalat’s continuous efforts to boost the Dubai Government’s strategy to raise the share of autonomous transport to as much as 25 percent of the total transportation in the emirate by 2030.

Making a grand entrance at GITEX this year are the all-electric, highly automated and fully connected BMW Vision iNEXT, and BMW Vision DC Roadster, a futuristic electric motorcycle a major step into the full-size electric two-wheel segment. taxi SA-1, an electric flying taxi developed by Hyundai with Uber, flies a distance up to 60 miles at an altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 feet.

Also demonstrated on the stand is the AirCar, an autonomous all-electric human carrying flying car, the world’s fastest autonomous delivery drone by German drone maker Wingcopter and the Rinspeed’s MetroSnap, an innovative autonomous driving concept.

On the smart retail front, Etisalat is showcasing advanced use cases of artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer vision in the form of innovative solution for retail businesses. The smart retail showcase includes a grocery smart checkout solutions, F&B section, life style/connected fashion and a retail dashboard.

Another showcase is Grand Connect’s retail back office that is a connected IoT based ecosystem of hardware and software comprising of ‘smart dressing rooms’, ‘smart staffing’, and ‘smart digital signage’.

Smart Dubai features innovations from 20 government firms

Smart Dubai 2021 is Dubai’s ambitious initiatives aimed at embracing the future and emerging as a world-leading smart city by 2021, in celebration of the nation’s golden jubilee, by promoting technological advances that benefit the city’s people, its economy, and its resources. The initiative structures its end-goals across a carefully crafted set of guiding principles: Efficiency, Seamlessness, Safety, and Personalisation. At this year’s Gitex, the pavilion, it showcased some of its initiatives including the City Simulation Dashboard, a new dashboard showcased to the public for the very first time this GITEX, is a data-powered use case designed to help estimate the potential growth or decline of COVID-19 cases in Dubai based on simulated interactions and mobility of people across different venues in the emirate, such as workplaces, schools, and shopping malls, among others.

In addition, the pavilion showcased its Government Resources Planning Systems (GRPS), DubaiNow app, and the UAE PASS initiative, the first secure national digital identity platform allowing UAE citizens and residents to access online services, digitally sign documents and transactions, and request digital versions of official documents. As of July 2020, UAE PASS can access services from 103 entities across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain.

The 40th edition of GITEX Technology Week, the only major technology event to go live in 2020, brought back in-person conferences, which saw artificial intelligence and cybersecurity experts shed light on issues including the ethical governance and associated bias with AI.