“Building the future and preparing for the rapidly changing times require our immediate action,” said His Excellency Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Managing Director of the Dubai Future Foundation, as he presided over the inaugural meeting of the Dubai 10X Council.

“We must form highly capable and creative teams to implement the forward-thinking vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and secure the emirate’s lead in the race to forecast future trends and apply today what cities around the world will be adopting 10 years from now,” H.E. Al Gergawi stressed.
“Adhering to directives from H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Future Foundation,” H.E. Al Gergawi continued, “we will begin a new phase, where we will be working to stay ahead of future trends and developments and to maintain our lead over other major cities. Our vision and the sum of our efforts to develop our systems and institutions will now be channeled towards meeting the future needs of our society and our coming generations. Qualified Emirati nationals will lead the charge in offering the world new and innovative models for government.”

The meeting discussed the Council’s tasks and responsibilities, as well as an action plan to implement the 10X initiative. Furthermore, the Council explored a number of related topics and assigned each government department a set of tasks it will be responsible for in terms of forming 10X teams that will propose creative ideas to test and implement in Dubai.

The Dubai 10X Council is composed of the following members: H.E. Humaid Obaid Al Qatami Chairman of the Board and Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA); Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA); Hussain Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality; Saeed Al Tayer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA); Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development; Helal Al Marri, Director-General of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism); Mona Al Marri, Director-General of the Dubai Government’s Media Office; Talal Belhoul, Deputy Director of the State Security Department; Sultan bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World; H.E Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General of the Smart Dubai Office; Ahmad bin Byat, CEO of Dubai Holding; Abdulla Al Shaibani, Secretary General of the Dubai Executive Council; Abdulla bin Touq, Acting CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation; Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director-General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA); and Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi, General Director of Smart Services at Dubai Police.

The Council set the criteria and standards to adhere to when appointing the 10X teams and their leaders – who will work to come up with out-of-the-box ideas and implement them – as well as the roles and achievements expected from each government department in the period leading up to the next edition of the World Government Summit.

The Next Phase

In the next phase, the participating government departments will begin appointing leaders for the 10X teams and setting their action plans. These leaders are set to begin training in March, while the remaining members of the teams are appointed.
By establishing 10X teams in different government departments, the Dubai 10X initiative is re-inventing these departments’ roles and the way they go about executing them. The initiative amplifies the part they play in the efforts to build the future and establishes “laboratories” within these departments to revolutionize the way governments work and place Dubai 10 years ahead of other cities.