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Dubai Airport Freezone Authority launches innovation strategy

Dubai - UAE Innovation Week builds on the National Innovation Strategy as a primary means to achieve UAE Vision 2021's goals.

The Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) has launched its innovation strategy during the UAE Innovation Week, in line with the directive of The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to mark 2015 as the 'Year of Innovation.'
The week also builds on the National Innovation Strategy launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as a primary means to achieve UAE Vision 2021's goals.
Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and chairman of Dafza, praised the Dafza initiative that was brought about in direct alignment with President Shaikh Khalifa's guidance and Shaikh Mohammed's vision to make the UAE a key global country in innovation.
This demands a creative management which embeds innovation in its daily work style, the Dafza chairman said.
Shaikh Ahmed reaffirmed his confidence and trust in the management team which proved its commitment to produce the best results and reach highest scores through innovation. This highlights that the innovation strategy is embedded within Dafza operations to enable it to trump other free zones in the world.
Dafza's Innovation Strategy aligns with the UAE National Innovation Strategy and has the objective of establishing Dafza as a world-class innovative organisation. This strategy has three goals: deliver value-added innovative solutions, adopt working styles that inspire creative behaviours across the organisation and contribue to the UAE's National Agenda through innovation.
It defines three roles for Dafza within the national innovation ecosystem: an innovator lead role that directs the innovation process, a capital provider that provides financial and physical resources to stakeholders to advance the country's innovation initiatives and a promoter of the UAE's national innovation efforts in line with UAE Vision 2021.
Dafza will focus on six key executable innovation enablers of process, technologies, governance, skills, capabilities and the culture necessary to stimulate innovation.
Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni, director-general of Dafza, said: "As Shaikh Mohammed said: 'Innovation is not an option but a necessity.' We share Shaikh Mohammed's thinking that innovation should be ingrained in an organisation as a work style. Those who do not innovate stand to lose their competitiveness and risk failure. Dafza's innovation strategy is a strong, enthusiastic and determined response to Shaikh Mohammed's call for a sharper focus on innovation as a pillar for the nation's sustained development and global leadership. Innovation Week is an ideal vehicle for launching the strategy as we will be able to express our solidarity in supporting the most innovative ideas from the government and private sectors as well as from the public."
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