ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role digital innovation and technologies will play in the economic development of cities across Africa and the Middle East. The new digital-first business trend is already transforming a number of economic sectors, including banking, retail, power, healthcare and education. Businesses around the Middle East have also innovated in the digital ecosystem. Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Company and Emirates Petroleum Products Company, for example, have developed a wireless prepaid fuelling system that allows cashless and card-less automated fuel payments. Careem, a regional online private car-booking service, is another success story. “The Smart Dubai initiative has yielded positive results through the success of three factors: robust financial tracking, intra-governmental agency co-operation and rapid digitisation of government services”.
