The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) has launched its agenda for the UAE Innovation Month under the slogan "Emirates Innovates in Preparation for The Next 50 Years". It also launched the Authority’s innovative ideas system (iThink), as well as its artificial intelligence strategy, during a special workshop held for its employees in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
In this regard, Khalid Al-Mazmi, Director of Strategy and Future Department at the Authority noted that the wise leadership of the United Arab Emirates gives innovators a special importance, and provides all elements and means of success for them and their institutions, driven by a strong conviction that innovation and creativity are key in enhancement of nations and peoples, as well as the UAE’s global leadership and competitiveness.
He stressed the importance of the UAE Innovation Month initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, noting that the UAE has succeeded through this initiative in consolidating innovation as an institutional culture and daily practice in the society. He also noted that the UAE Innovation Month initiative reflects the great attention accorded by the country to talented people and those with innovative, non-traditional ideas.
Al-Mazmi added: “The Authority’s agenda in UAE Innovation Month includes launching and implementing 17 initiatives and activities for employees, the most prominent of which was launching the new innovative ideas system, to encourage people to provide innovative proposals for development, the AI strategy, as well as defining future directions in this field. By doing so, the UAE aspires to become one of the pioneers in utilizing and investing in AI technologies.”
Among the activities of the UAE Innovation Month according to the Authority’s plan, holding an e-training session for employees in charge of training in ministries and federal entities, and a similar course for ’Customer Happiness’ employees, through the e-learning portal in the Federal Government (Al-Mawred).
In the meantime, the Authority will organize a live broadcast session for HR Club via webinar technology, and organize a series of training courses for the Authority’s employees on a number of topics: leading and sustaining a culture of innovation, design thinking methodology, and merging nature and training. Field visits will be organized for a number of employees to learn about best practices and exchange experiences with various work sectors across the country.
Al-Mazmi concluded his statement stressing that the Authority’s activities during the UAE Innovation Month also include the launch of Creativity Gateway exhibition at the Authority’s headquarters in Dubai, to be dedicated to showcasing the creative works of Federal Government employees, and innovative projects implemented by UAE students of public and private universities.
Launch of ‘iThink’ System
For her part, Maitha Klythum, Head of Institutional Excellence Department at the Authority reviewed the new ideas system adopted by the Authority ‘iThink’, which is an electronic platform through which the Authority receives innovative comments, ideas and proposals.
She stated that the system has evolved through a number of phases: generating ideas, classifying and evaluating them, developing ideas presented, and implementing useful ideas and measuring the return on investing in these ideas. She indicated that ‘iThink’ system provides presenters of innovative ideas with a set of advantages the authors of ideas and proposals a set of characteristics and advantages, e,g, quick generation of new ideas, ability of a group of people to participate in developing ideas, as well as availability of an advanced notification and alert system to inform users of any developments in the proposals submitted, and timely reports and data on the innovative ideas.