Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, emphasised the Foundation’s role, now more than ever, in leveraging on its initiatives, partnerships and in-house talents in order to find innovative and effective solutions that support the UAE’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

Dubai Future Foundation is acting in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to increase cooperation, unite efforts and better anticipate health challenges.

He added: ”Dubai Future Foundation, and under the guidance of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Crown Prince of Dubai, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Dubai Future Foundation, was one of the first government entities to successfully implement working remotely by 100 percent, this to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its employees. The Foundation, along with its business units, continues to successfully and smoothly run its operations, tasks, and meetings remotely.” Belhoul highlighted that the Foundation works remotely with full drive and efficiency through its business units, projects, and initiatives in collaboration with various stakeholders locally and globally to support the readiness of strategic sectors in the UAE, as well as enable them to better navigate future shifts given the current global health state.

His Excellency added that the success and swift actions taken by the Corporate Affairs department to ensure all of its activities, including financial transactions, procurement, contracts, and legal affairs, are now conducted fully paperless and are digitized, is a testament to the caliber and talent the Foundation upholds.

Understanding the Future and Disseminating Knowledge Dubai Future Foundation continues to work to achieve its goals based on four Strategic Business Units; these include imagining and understanding the future, disseminating future knowledge, building future capacity, designing, and accelerating the future. These business units enable the Foundation’s efforts to position Dubai as a leading city of the future and a hub for innovation and technology.

Forward-looking Research The Foundation is currently working on issuing a series of comprehensive and forward-looking reports and studies tackling health challenges arising from the emergence of the novel COVID-19, in cooperation with the Foundation’s partners from both government and private sectors aiming at employing modern technologies to support the health sector in Dubai and the UAE while benefiting from successful global practices.

Reports issued by “Dubai Future Research” will be used in foreseeing the future of Dubai at this stage and keeping abreast of the changes posed by the spread of the virus on future economic sectors in order to be fully prepared to what’s coming, which comes in alignment with Dubai’s pioneering approach in anticipating changes and employing them to serve the nation.

In addition to that, the UAE’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is working closely with a global network of experts and specialists in the fields of artificial intelligence, precision medicine and blockchain around the world to study opportunities of employing these technologies to limit the impact of COVID-19 virus on vital and significant sectors.

Increasing Public Awareness and Spread of Scientific Content Through its knowledge disseminating initiatives, Dubai Future Foundation aims at informing all members of society on the latest developments related to the pandemic in the field of health, scientific tests and reports of global institutions, and its impact on vital sectors such as economy, education, industry, tourism, and others.

The Foundation’s Mostaqbal Portal continues to publish the latest news on COVID-19, throughout its platforms, to raise awareness in the UAE and abroad.

Building Capacity and Essential Future Skills Within the framework of supporting the efforts of educational institutions in implementing distance learning initiatives, Dubai Future Academy is currently cooperating with several universities, academic institutions and research centers around the world to develop future education mechanisms in order to implement the directives of the UAE leadership to continue building future skills of the youth.

Delegates from various government entities who participated in the “Dubai Future Experts Program” are designing a set of future scenarios for the challenges posed by the COVID-19 and bringing about solid plans to face these challenges.

Another initiative led by DFF, the “One Million Arab Programmers,” is providing an opportunity for those wishing to learn remote programming to enhance their future skills and use technology to help their communities face the current situation.

Continuous Efforts in Designing the Future Dubai Future Foundation continues to work with government and private entities, startups and entrepreneurs from around the world to implement a set of projects related to current challenges through “Dubai Future Accelerators” and “Dubai 10X”, in addition to full coordination with the regulatory bodies in Dubai and the UAE through the “Regulations Lab” to develop a safe and innovative environment for developing future ideas and experimenting them on the ground.

“Dubai Future Labs” is working also on developing advanced tools and technologies that contribute to supporting the efforts of health authorities in the UAE, including the design and manufacture of 3D printed medical respirators.