Smart Dubai Office celebrates first anniversary of Happiness Agenda

Fri 16-06-2017 14:24 PM

DUBAI, 15th June, 2017 (WAM) — The Smart Dubai Office, SDO, has celebrated the first anniversary of its Happiness Agenda, adopted by Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in May 2016.

The SDO is the entity officially responsible for managing the Happiness Agenda and overseeing its implementation, and aims to use cutting-edge technologies to facilitate smart solutions towards Dubai’s transformation into the smartest and happiest city on earth. The agenda supports the SDO’s mission of turning Dubai into the smartest city on earth, using an internationally benchmarked change framework in four strategic portfolios: Discover, Measure, Change and Educate.

The Smart Dubai Office has launched the Corporate Happiness Framework, which is now in its pilot phase in both the Smart Dubai Government Establishment and Dubai Silicon Oasis, DSO. The framework is a tool designed to measure and improve happiness at a corporate level for public and private organisations.

Smart Dubai has organised the Happiness Hack Dubai hackathon, recruiting more than 43 ‘Happiness Champions’ from government and private institutions. The SDO also collaborated with Rochester Institute of Technology and the Gallup Organisation, to establish the Corporate Happiness Professional Diploma. The Diploma promotes the use of scientific and pragmatic principles to achieve happiness in a professional environment. The ‘Happiness Champions’ were offered 20 free seats to study for the Diploma in association with Dubai Silicon Oasis.

Smart Dubai developed the Happiness Algorithm, a smart way to scientifically measure happiness in the city, using existing city data. These algorithms can be included in the ‘leadership dashboards’ prepared for decision-makers to help them shape policies based on verifiable data, which contribute to public happiness. Human resource officials can also make use of these algorithms to forecast or gauge the level of employee happiness, in addition to forecasting expected levels of happiness in Dubai.

“Our goal is to spread happiness throughout Dubai and among all segments of society. We strive to make people feel content with their experience in Dubai whether they are citizens, residents, or visitors,” said Dr. Aisha bint Butti bin Bishr, Director-General of the Smart Dubai Office. “The Happiness Meter is a great testament to the Dubai Smart Office’s commitment to prioritising people’s happiness and satisfaction.”

“Guided by the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, we, at Smart Dubai, work to catalyse and support our city’s transformation into a world-leading smart city. We follow a thorough scientific approach to measure people’s happiness across the city and work to develop and sustain it,” Dr. Aisha added. “The goal of the Happiness Agenda is to increase the happiness score in Dubai from 89 percent to 95 percent by 2021.”

WAM