The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) participated in the 6th Smart Cities Summit 2023. The event was held under the patronage of H.E. Eng. Wael bin Nasser Al Mubarak, Minister of Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs during 16 – 17 May 2023 at the Gulf Convention Centre – Gulf Hotel. iGA participated in the panel discussion and the concurrent exhibition organized alongside with summit with participation of local and international entities.
During the opening ceremony, Mr. Mohamed Ali Al Qaed, iGA Chief Executive received the Smart Cities 2023 Award – Smart Citizens Engagement category for Tawasul app. The app been awarded for its features and eServices that contributes to reinforce and enhance community partnership support smart cities.
On this occasion, Al Qaed expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to the organizing committee for the well organization and awarding iGA, wishing the summit all the success. He emphasized that the award reflects the government’s efforts towards adopting technologies and providing advanced channels that reinforce communication between citizens and residents with the public entities and support government efforts and policies towards sustainable development.
The iGA is participating in number of panel discussions as part of the summit’s program, i.e. the ” Food security and AgriTech in Bahrain, opportunities and challenges ” in which Mr. Fathi Al Burshaid, Chief of Spatial Information and Remote Sensing – GIS Directorate is showcasing a number of iGA projects such as Vegetation survey, Soil Mapping and Botanical Atlas Projects.
On the other hand, Mrs. Fatima Abdul Kareem, Head of eService Delivery at iGA participates in the panel “Enabling Smart Citizens” highlighting the National Suggestion & Complaint system “Tawasul” and Tawasul app, shading light on its role in promoting interactive engagement with citizens as part of ICT initiatives that contribute towards improving people’s quality of life.
On the side of the summit, iGA participates with a stand in the concurrent exhibition to showcase several digital transformation projects and systems that support the real estate development and facilitate investors services. The showcased projects include the Planning Platform (www.planning.bh), which is an interactive digital platform that provides services related to the land planning process and mechanism, in addition to providing urban planning eServices.
It is worth mentioning that the Bahrain Smart Cities Summit 2023 aimed to showcase a number of international practices in the field of digital transformation of smart cities, the challenges and the related strategies.