
The Dubai Government HR Department organized a hackathon and a series of interactive workshops at the 2nd phase of the Talent 2033 initiative. This strategic initiative, launched by the department, shall aim at speeding up the integration of 65,000 Emirati citizens into the private sector while further solidifying the position of Dubai as a global hub for talent and creativity.
The ‘Talent 2033’ is meant to effect a paradigm shift in how human resources are empowered in various fields like travel, logistics, tourism, ICT, real estate, industry, trade, finance, insurance, healthcare, and education.
Phase Two: The Design Phase
The second phase is the “Design Phase,” which is subdivided into several steps. It started with a virtual hackathon and was followed by sessions and workshops that would further refine new ideas and concepts. This second phase concluded with participants presenting their ideas and voting on them to select actionable projects. This phase also included an interactive session with industry pioneers and experts.
More than 180 participants, including public and private sector experts, departmental teams, partner organizations, students, mothers and non-working women, took part in the process. Together, they came up with over 640 innovative ideas. Of these, around 110 aimed at increasing Emirati participation in both public and private sectors while some 90 centered on skills and capacity building. The ideas will be reviewed and categorized to lead their future implementation.
A Forward-Thinking Approach
The Director General of the Dubai Government Human Resources Department, Abdullah Ali bin Zayed Al Falasi, underlined that the Talent 2033 initiative is going in accordance with contemporary tendencies and the needs of the future. It works on innovations to solve problems in today’s workplaces and perfects new strategies in talent development and retention. This step will also contribute to the sustainable growth of the Dubai Economic Agenda 2033, as envisioned by D33, to double the emirate’s GDP by 2033 through investments in human development and advanced technologies.
He pointed out the Department’s commitment to developing Emiratis with the skill set that will be required for them to occupy a central place in realizing the vision of development and establishing a diversified economy based on innovation, advanced technologies, and national talent.
Key Objectives of the Hackathon
The hackathon had the following key goals:
Women in the workforce
Productivity rises due to improved skills, education, and the use of technology and automation.
Reinforcing Dubai as a destination of choice to live and work. The hackathon provided a platform where public and private sector organizations, among others, were allowed to pitch their ideas and vote on the best solutions to address the said objectives.
Ideas into Action
After the hackathon, workshops were conducted in order to discuss the selected ideas with focused working groups on the selected ideas. This was followed by logistics-focused groups. The workshops translated the ideas into 20-25 project proposals that were presented before the steering council for consideration and implementation.