In line with the directive of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, for all government entities to disrupt themselves and to position Dubai 10 years ahead of all other cities in the world, Dubai 10x, an initiative by Dubai Future Foundation, and 1776 launched the first ‘Regulatory Hacking Program’ at a workshop with participants from over 36 Dubai government entities.
The Regulatory Hacking Program aims to firmly position Dubai at the forefront of embracing disruptive innovation in government by working with the startup ecosystem to ensure regulations aide in harnessing faster processes, and penetrating the market.
His Excellency Abdullah bin Touq, Acting CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, said: “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with the world’s leading companies and most innovative institutions to achieve our goals, which echo the leadership’s forward-thinking vision to establish Dubai as a global hub for the future industry. To that end, we launch successive future-centric initiatives that put Dubai ahead of other cities in terms of planning for the future, and a global exporter of ambitious, forward-thinking initiatives. The ‘Regulatory hacking program offers support for the Dubai 10X initiative teams, as they create innovative methods for government entities that make them more flexible in adapting to future changes.”
Dr. Mansoor Al Osaimi, Director of Legislation at the Supreme Legislations Committee in Dubai added, “The Supreme Legislations committee ‘s participation with the Regulation Hack workshop organized by Dubai 10X, in partnership with 1776, aims to educate all participants about the policy making procedures in Dubai. In addition, to understand how government entities draw and develop their policies in order to create a road map for developing new policies to complement the new services and projects the 10X teams are working on; hence, fulfilling the government vision of making Dubai the city of the future.”
“Some government regulations can hamper the progress and add to the challenges that many startups face in their quest for innovation,” said Evan Burfield, CEO, 1776. “We have joined forces with Dubai Future Foundation in order to realize the vision of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoun in making Dubai the city of the future and to disrupt the regulatory barriers, by making regulatory hacking the new tool of trade in the digital era.”
With over 4000 startups in its network, 1776 will facilitate the coordination of select top global startups from its network and other channels to work with the Dubai 10x teams throughout the program, to recommend waivers or regulatory changes that can best enable them to scale up their businesses.
“The Regulatory Hacking Program will empower the Dubai 10x teams to pitch their recommendations to Dubai and Federal Government director generals and top officials, where the selected proposals will be showcased at the upcoming World Government Summit,” added Burfield. “Our focus is to create the space where high-growth startups can utilize their technological expertise to aide government entities in their quest to implement the 10X mandate. Dubai can definitely play a pioneering role in this domain, and 1776 is delighted to be part of this program.”
At the completion of the Regulatory Hacking Program, Dubai will be the first city in the world to make a global announcement of this magnitude around the waivers and/or the regulatory changes, once they’re ratified.