Smart Governance: Potential, Concerns and Policy Implications in MENA

Fadi Salem, Director and Fellow of Governance and Innovation of Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, hosted Young Arab Leaders Executive Meetup on September 27, 2017 at 7:00-9:00pm at the Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Dubai, UAE. He discussed the impact of smart governance on the economy and overall ecosystem, including transformation of citizen-government interactions in the age of smart governance.

Executive Meetup is a series of casual meetings organized by Young Arab Leaders to encourage knowledge exchange between YAL exclusive members hosted by prominent leaders such as Fadi Salem in the UAE who share their insights and what the future holds for certain industries.

About the Speaker :

Fadi Salem is a Senior Research Fellow with the Future Government Group; and founder of the Governance and Innovation Program at the MBR School of Government (formerly Dubai School of Government). He was also a Research Associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS); and a Fellow at the I+I Policy Research Centre, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY SPP), National University of Singapore. He is currently a PhD in Public Policy candidate at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, co-supervised by the Oxford Internet Institute.

Fadi’s areas of expertise includes policy and social implications of the Internet, technology policy, social media and participation, digital transformation, digital governance evaluation and smart cities development. His current areas of research include the policy and ethical implications of the social web, big data and IoT. Fadi has over fifteen years of multidisciplinary working experience in the policy research fields, policy circles and media organizations, including contributing to numerous projects with the UN, OECD and the World Bank. Prior to joining the School, he worked in The Executive Office in Dubai, advising senior government leaders on technology policy and digital economy. He also previously worked as an editor of two multinational technology periodicals.

Fadi has extensive policy publications on open governance, inclusion and social media, e-participation and ‘future of government’ applications in the Arab region. He is the author of numerous influential policy reports, including the ‘Arab Social Media Report’ series and the ‘Arab World Online’ series. He is also a policy advisor and public speaker, frequently contributing to international conferences and policy forums on Internet governance, technology policy, societal impact of digital transformations and the knowledge economy.