Dubai Municipality received 11 prestigious awards in the final quarter of 2023, as a testament to its efforts, initiatives, and projects across various key sectors. These include urban planning and enhancing quality of life, regulation, and issuance of building permits in the building and construction sector, health, and safety, and promoting digital transformation in contracts, procurement, supply chains, and project management. Additionally, the municipality was recognized for its efforts in enhancing customer happiness.

The awards reflect the Municipality’s strategic emphasis on establishing digital and competitive business systems and fostering an advanced and leading digital innovation framework, while further focusing on sustainable urban planning to enhance the overall quality of life and the establishment of a world-class, smart, and advanced building sector in Dubai. Furthermore, the municipality is committed to fostering happiness by developing proactive and integrated services that surpass expectations. This commitment also includes ensuring the sustainability of the environment, health, and food, ultimately positioning Dubai as a pioneering and attractive destination offering the highest quality of life.

Department of Urban Planning and Quality of Life

Dubai Municipality received the Gold Category of the Global Future Design Award in the Urban Design category for its Integrated District initiative, which specifically aimed at the design of the service center in Al Aweer. The initiative is aimed at anticipating future service requirements, which align with the best planning standards to foster integrated communities. This strategic approach enhances the quality of life and well-being of citizens.

Additionally, the Municipality secured the Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards in the Planning and Design category for its framework plan initiative focused on the development of rural areas. This initiative was designed to preserve the naturality of rural areas while ensuring the provision of services, facilities, and necessities for residents and visitors of these areas.

Building permits

Dubai Municipality bagged the top spot in the Big 5 Global Impact Awards under the Innovative Construction Organization of the Year category. This recognition was earned through the success of the Dubai Municipality Projects Initiative in the field of innovative construction. The initiative aims at advancing the municipality’s services and applications by aligning them with the latest international technologies and best practices in the field of building and construction.

Health and Safety

The municipality achieved the first position in the Arab Anti-Smoking Award for the best legislation category. This award reflects the municipality’s dedicated efforts in tobacco control and smoking regulation within the emirate. It is attributed to the planning and execution of an integrated tobacco control and smoking regulation program, which ensures adherence to the provisions and regulations outlined in the Federal Law and its Executive Regulation.

Since 2021, the municipality conducted over 36 thousand visits to monitor and inspect tobacco products and related items available in the local market, as well as smoking establishments. These efforts are aimed towards ensuring that circulation of tobacco products adheres to the country’s standards, and investigations are carried out to assess the extent to which institutions comply with the approved requirements.

Customer Happiness

It also secured the first position in the Global Continual Improvement Award in the Happiness and Engagement category for its initiative focused on enhancing customer experience and streamlining processes to reduce effort. This project is part of a broader series of strategic initiatives aimed at expediting recovery and fortifying Dubai’s economic advantage, further ensuring its leading position among the best cities for business. Additionally, it aligns with the directives of the Government of Dubai to reduce government requirements by 30 per cent.

The initiative aims to minimize efforts, decrease costs associated with conducting business, and ensure conformity and compliance with the requirements from investors. Furthermore, it seeks to sustain the ongoing transition towards a shared government channel and realize the vision of ‘The Services 360’.

The Municipality was also honored with the first position in the Ideas Arabia International Award in the category of customer happiness. This recognition is attributed to its Customer Voice initiative, designed to establish direct communication between Dubai Municipality’s leadership, customers, and investors, while actively engaging customers in the improvement and development process, with a goal of identifying vital challenges and difficulties they encounter.

Contracts and Procurement

Dubai Municipality achieved the prestigious Future of Procurement award for its advancements in supplier performance assessment, especially for the Digitization of Supplier Performance Evaluation initiative. This recognition is a result of incorporating state-of-the-art digital transformation technologies, leveraging robotic process automation, and automating repetitive tasks, all without human intervention in the evaluation process. The objective is to enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of Dubai Municipality while supporting Dubai’s digital economy and reinforcing its position as a global digital hub.

It was also awarded the esteemed Technology Utilization Award at the Investors in People Awards for its digital transformation initiative in procurement. This initiative aims to align with governmental trends by incorporating optimal technological solutions in purchasing and contracting. It streamlines procedures in accordance with the national agenda and strategic objectives of the municipality. Furthermore, it seeks to provide innovative and high-quality contractual and procurement services by harnessing modern technology.

Project Management

It also received global acclaim by ranking first in the Leadership category at the PMO Global Awards for its Project Management Office. Heba Bilal Al Shehhi, Director of Dubai Municipality’s Project Management Office, was recognized with this prestigious title. The award reflects Dubai Municipality’s leading and professional efforts in project management, showcasing an exceptional developmental model and securing a leading position among the corporate institutions of the Dubai government, the UAE, and globally. The municipality had previously received the title of the Best Project Management Office worldwide for two consecutive years. In 2022, it secured the award from the International Project Management Institute, and in 2021, it was awarded at the PMO Global Awards by the International Alliance for Project Management Offices.

Excellence and Knowledge

Dubai Municipality won the prestigious Global MIKE Award, securing the title of the most innovative knowledge institution globally. This award is a result of the municipality’s pioneering initiatives in knowledge management and innovation, showcasing exceptional maturity across all standards. Innovation and knowledge system, knowledge management framework, knowledge exchange activities, and fostering a culture of innovation and knowledge collectively contribute to Dubai Municipality’s global institutional leadership.

Information Technology

The Municipality also bagged the top position at the Digital Innovation Award under two categories. In the first category, the municipality was recognized for its smart city project of the year, particularly its initiative to monitor emissions from oils, fats, and fuels, thereby preventing discharge into the sewage system. This initiative leveraged Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and seamlessly integrated with a big data platform and analysis tools, resulting in the presentation of real-time readings on an information dashboard. The second category lauds its innovative project that utilizes AI technologies to analyze waste collection requests from companies and streamline the approval process.