In this week’s episode Kari Aina Eik, Secretary General, Organization for International Economic Relations, shares with us the biggest opportunities and challenges governments have faced when working towards becoming more sustainable, and discusses how cities must collaborate to accelerate achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Nadine Mezher, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Sarwa discusses how her Dubai grown digital financial advisory firm is helping new investors make smarter, diversified and cost-efficient investment decisions. Investors can start an account with as low as USD 500 and leverage Sarwa’s algorithms to invest in different portfolios depending on their risk appetite.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted business models for a lot of industry sectors, with many traditionally offline businesses now primarily functioning online. Will this trend continue even after COVID-19? In this episode we speak to Patrick Noack, Executive Director of Future Foresight and Imagination at the Dubai Future Foundation, discussing the Life After COVID-19 series of reports which share insights on the impact the pandemic has had on several industry sectors such as Education, Retail, Financial Technologies, Logistics and more, and what the future of these sectors will look like.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every single country across the globe, governments have realized the importance of food security and being agriculturally self-sustainable. Today, agro-tech is a solution, particularly for countries with harsh climates that primarily rely on imported food. In this episode Nikita Patel, Founder of homegrown vertical farming company Oasis Greens talks about the future of farming and how agro-tech can be answer the globe’s food challenges.

As the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is made in almost every decision affecting people’s lives today, Andrew Collinge, Advisor, Dubai Data Establishment shares his thoughts on what AI precisely is and why it is important for governments to regulate AI on a city-level to ensure ethical implementation of this rapidly evolving technology. Additionally, if you are a tech startup in the AI space, listen to this episode to learn more on how you can collaborate with Smart Dubai to further enhance Dubai’s AI ecosystem.

Haider Ali Khan, CEO of Bayut, discusses with Smart Dubai how technology has played a crucial role in Bayut’s success, what techniques can residents look forward to in the future, and how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the local market.

Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Microsoft UAE, discusses how Microsoft is helping government and private sector entities fight COVID-19 globally. Listen to this episode of the Smart Dubai Podcast and learn how Sayed believes government and company leaders should brace for what is going to be the work culture’s new norm.

Noor Al Nahhas, Founder at Nybl, talks to Smart Dubai about what led him to start a knowledge-driven company based on AI in Dubai. Listen to how he envisions AI to be quickly integrated within every industry sector globally, transforming data into intelligence, one nybl at a time.

Mark Balovnev, CEO, Educhain and Partner, Acceliance discusses how he came to Dubai for the very first time in 2017 to participate in the Global Blockchain Challenge, a blockchain solutions competition hosted by Smart Dubai. Listen to this episode of the Smart Dubai Podcast as Mark recalls his journey since and how he now calls Dubai home.

Dr.Essa Bastaki, President, University of Dubai, talks to Smart Dubai on how smart city technology is shaping the future of education and what jobs are going to look like in the next 20 years.