TRA Receives WSIS Champion Award

15/04/2019

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was awarded Champion of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum for the ‘Innovation Camp’ project. This was achieved as part of the tenth session of the Forum held recently in Geneva, Switzerland, in the presence of delegates from participating countries and ICT experts. The TRA headed the UAE delegation involved in the summit agenda, which included the, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization, Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination, Smart Dubai Office, Digital Ajman, UAE Space Agency, the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation and AQDAR program.

The TRA's Innovation Camp have been recognized for its mission to orient the younger generation towards future technology prospects, and to support exploration, innovation, future shaping and youth's technical skills development in line with UAE's ICT trends.

During the Forum, the TRA presented a workshop on best practices in the implementation of smart government, which included introducing the ‘Start your Business in 15 Minutes’ project as one of the leading projects was launched in 2018 aimed at encouraging all members of society to turn their ideas into projects based on the ground. The Forum also witnessed the certification of TRA's Innovation Camp as a WSIS champion.

Commenting on TRA's participation in this major global forum,H.E Eng. Majed Al Mesmar, TRA Deputy Director General of the Telecommunications Sector, head of the UAE delegation, said: "Since its inception ten years ago, the WSIS Forum has played an influential role in the global landscape. The UAE has had its own visible marks throughout the Forum's march, in accordance with our wise leadership’s directions to open up to future-shaping global events that help promote sustainable development and the application of advanced technologies to serve humanity. Through its participation in the WSIS Forum, the TRA highlighted its successful experiences in the field of Information Technology, where the UAE community has become an ideal model for the Information Society. The UAE has endeavored to employ ICT in all social, political, economic and cultural activities. To that end, it harnessed its own Big Data towards development and enabling every member of society to benefit from such information and to use it in a safe and sound manner, ensuring a better quality of life and the attainment of the agreed goals and objectives of sustainable development.

H.E. Majid Al Mesmar, accompanied by the ITU Secretary-General H.E Houlin Zhao, inaugurated the exhibition coinciding with WSIS. The exhibition included pavilions of participating countries in which they showcased their projects and achievements in fields of information and digital technologies. H.E. Houlin Zhao visited the UAE pavilion and was briefed on the projects presented by the UAE. The pavilion also included a number of TRA projects,. Furthermore, Mr. Zhao was briefed on booklets designated for the visually impaired, provided by the Ministry of the Interior. These booklets are intended to educate the visually impaired about the safe and best way of using the Internet.

Eng. Mohammed Al Khamis Program Director – UAE Smart Government stressed that the TRA, through its participation in this Forum, presented to the participating countries of the world many of its successful experiences and projects with a view to generalize these success stories for the good and happiness of all nations of the world, adding: "What the TRA has achieved in this participation by winning the WSIS champion prize for the Innovation Camp and receiving of four more of its projects of such prize, confirms that the UAE is on the right track towards leadership in all humanitarian fields and it is only a few years before the UAE achieves this goal. Today we are picking up the pace and working hard to achieve UAE Vision 2021 and the objectives of the National Agenda."

It is noteworthy that the WSIS is dedicated to assessing and honoring individuals, governments, civil society organizations, local, regional and international agencies, research institutions and private sector companies that have been successful in harnessing the potential of ICT in sustainable development strategies. The Forum aims to coordinate efforts of various countries in all aspects of ICT and digital content.