TRA Hosts The 1St Forum on Data Management

Mobilk- The activities of the 1st Forum on Data Management have been launched today in Dubai. The Forum is hosted by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authorities (TRA), in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and held under the slogan of "Transforming data into value, expanding the IoT potential with a special focus on smart cities". The Forum has witnessed the participation of a wide group of experts and decision-makers from around the world, as well as many UAE government entities and private sector companies.

The Forum started with an opening ceremony, which included the speeches of H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director General, Dr. Chaesub Lee, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU, and Engineer Nasser Al Marzouqi, Chairman of the ITU-T Study Group 20 on Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities and communications (SC&C).  Moreover, a discussion session on The role of IoT and data in smart cities has been held, included keynote speakers H.E. Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director General of Smart Dubai Office and Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Data Establishment, H.E. Saleh Al Abdooli, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), and H.E. Osman Sultan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (EITC) (Du).

In his delivered speech during the opening ceremony, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori said: The picture drawn by experts for the world in 2020 is a truly extraordinary one. It features a world interconnected by 50 billion smart devices, within a busy atmosphere with data streaming in all directions; and where billions of sensors would be communicating in digital languages to achieve unprecedented system of services and solutions in the daily course of life. The world in which we live today is the world of data, which is co-produced by six billion people with a daily average of more than 2.5 quintillion, knowing that 90% of the existed data in the world today is the data that has been produced during the last two years only.

H.E. Al Mansoori added: The internet has created a real revolution in the human world. The number of individuals connected to the internet has multiplied 90 times from 2000 to 2017. Nevertheless, today, as we shift from the internet of humans to the internet of things, we move towards a greater revolution, since it will have a deep effect in the nature of human behavior and his relation with many aspects of life. There is no doubt that issues like standardization, the governance of data, its methods of operation and associated security considerations will acquire a lot of worksheets and dialogues in your meetings. But the most important in this regard is the recommendations that you will produce based on these discussions, which will lead to a better understanding of the phases nature, and how to deal with its elements and concepts, which is exactly what the world expects from such extremely important meetings.

The topics included in the Forums agenda for discussion included the challenges and opportunities in a data-driven world, technology and standards for data management, data interoperability and open data platforms, data governance, and security & trust in the IoT ecosystem.