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Sharjah e-government department holds Gitex workshop

dubai - Local departments briefed about plans and activities to be implemented at the government of Sharjah's pavilion

Sharjah's Department of eGovernment (DeG) organised a workshop for various departments on Thursday to discuss their participation in Gitex Technology Week 2016, taking place from October 16 to 20 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

"The workshop featured a presentation about DeG's participation at Gitex and provided details of our latest apps for Sharjah, which will be launched during the exhibition," said Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, director-general of DeG. "These [apps] include digital links between government departments to increase connectivity and improve the flow of information, and high level cyber-security systems to effectively protect and secure data during storage, retrieval and transmission."

Al Qasimi stressed the importance of DeG's participation at Gitex, in light of IT spending in the Middle East expected to reach $212.9 billion (Dh782 billion) in 2019, an increase of 3.7 per cent compared to 2015.

"Thanks to the vision and directives of our wise leadership, Sharjah has been able to achieve excellence in the field of digital and smart government services. DeG has organised this workshop to inform local departments about the plans and activities to be implemented at the government of Sharjah's pavilion during Gitex. This activity comes under our remit to implement unified digital and smart services throughout Sharjah," Al Qasimi added.

DeG director Noor Ali Abdulla Al Noman told Khaleej Times that Sharjah's pavilion at Gitex will occupy 1,620 square metres to accommodate 32 departments.

"We want to show what Sharjah is doing. We will not just go with the 'bigger and better concept' but what we want to showcase is the beauty and space of Sharjah," said Al Noman. "Our pavilion will not just have glitzy LCD screens or IoT stuff, what we will highlight is sustainability and how to use technology to enhance everyday life," she informed.

An app called Sharjah Land will also be launched at Gitex where players can learn more about everyday life in Sharjah.

According to Al Noman, the app also serves as conducting a survey with the residents.

"It's a game app, which will be available both on Android and iTunes, where people are virtually interacting with various government departments to gain points. They can make suggestions and in essence, even if they are just playing, they are already communicating with the government," Al Noman explained.

- angel@khaleejtimes.com