Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 14 October 2022: The Department of Government Support, represented by the Abu Dhabi School of Government and the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, today announced the launch of Data Academy, a unique project in the region aimed at developing the skills of government sector employees in the field of data, as well as helping build the capabilities of government entities, and enhancing efficiency of government performance in Abu Dhabi.
Data Academy will offer government entities employees specialised training programmes and courses in the field of data management in cooperation with a group of professionals and specialised academic institutions. The Academy’s programmes will focus on educating the employees about the basics of data and data value realisation.
The project aims to raise the data maturity index of government entities, instil a long-term culture and mindset in which data is one of the primary and high value assets, and develop a data-driven government ecosystem in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, Data Academy aims to support the digital agenda of the emirate and enhance its position as a centre of excellence in data management.
The project was launched at the Abu Dhabi Government Pavilion at GITEX Global 2022, where more than 30 government and academic entities from the emirate are taking part and will continue until 14 October 2022 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
His Excellency Dr. Yasser Ahmed Al Naqbi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi School of Government, said: “This project reflects the commitment of the Abu Dhabi School of Government to develop and build capabilities of government entities employees, and empower them by providing them with the necessary knowledge of the latest digital methods and strategies. This includes technologies that help realise the value of data, in order to fully meet future challenges and opportunities, as well as enable the digital transformation process to build a knowledge-based economy in the emirate.”
His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Abdel Hamid Al Askar, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, said: “Data Academy aims to support the government efforts to build a data-powered government ecosystem. The project focuses on creating sustainable development pathways to build and enhance the competencies and competitiveness of government employees in cooperation with the best academic specialists in this field.”
His Excellency pointed out that the launch of the project reflects the interest of the Abu Dhabi government in developing the skills and competencies of government employees in the field of data, stressing that, “the project provides an ideal opportunity to enhance joint cooperation between government entities and relevant partners, and move forward in building the necessary foundations, especially at the government level, in order to build a digital future in which data is one of the most important and valuable assets.”
Data Academy is part of the Abu Dhabi Data programme, which aims to bring about a data-based transformation to enhance and accelerate government performance, enable government entities to make decisions based on sound visions and data analytics, and develop individual capabilities of government entities employees and make them more impactful.