Sheikh Hamdan’s role as a driving force in Dubai has been recognised on the international stage. In 2017, LinkedIn named him an influencer, joining a select club of 500 of the world’s foremost thinkers, leaders and innovators. The citation included references to Sheikh Hamdan’s belief that the development of young people in Dubai was an essential focus, and not just for the economy. He is aware economic goals should not outweigh environmental concerns. He recently led a volunteer force of young Emiratis in a marine environment clean-up along Dubai’s coast. Thousands responded to his social media appeal for help. He said of the event’s attendance: “This is a testament to our children's awareness of the importance of preserving the environment. Our city is our home. We are all responsible for its cleanliness and for sustaining its resources.” This focus on young people is powering Sheikh Hamdan’s vision of the future. One of his first acts as Crown Prince was to found the Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-university in Dubai. He believes that only by improving educational standards and opportunities can the country benefit from what he calls “the index of human capital”. He created a Centre for Giftedness and Creativity, whose aims include identifying young and talented students, coupled with the provision of quality learning environments. The project is designed to develop leadership skills and encourage young people to disseminate new thinking into the wider society.
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In line with global thinking on the fourth industrial revolution, the focus is on a search for talent in the fields of science, maths, technology, languages and leadership. The studying is relentless, with “hot house” programmes for students outside of regular term times. Another Sheikh Hamdan initiative is the Innovation Incubator; a business development tool which aims to identify and support emerging entrepreneurs. Most tend to be aged 30 and above, he observed; he wants to change that statistic to foster younger achievers.
and supporting creative minds in developing solutions.” The event, the equivalent of a hi-tech Olympics, focused on robotics and AI. It attracted competitors from throughout the world to Dubai last October to form the nucleus of the scientific community of the future. Sheikh Hamdan saw the event in terms of Dubai’s ambition to become one of the world’s leading cities in shaping the future and developing innovation in key sectors.
Dubai has witnessed a rapid growth in start-ups and SME development in the past 10 years. The Innovation Incubator aims to further that, concentrating on services, IT, health, media and design sectors.
He is eager to establish an environment where entrepreneurs are given financial support and business advice, mentoring, and a solid network of care. Government cash is available to ensure start-ups are given adequate opportunity to thrive. The Government Procurement Programme (GPP) puts an emphasis on supporting SMEs.
It helps that the energetic and adventurous Sheikh Hamdan is seen as a role model among Dubai’s younger generation. Every year he presents prestigious awards to Dubai’s young businesspeople, and wants every tool to be made available to this youthful powerhouse.
In 2018, the value of government contracts to Emirati businesses topped AED (Arab Emirate Dirham) 1 billion ($272m) for the first time. While most of these funds go to construction and engineering businesses, some is earmarked for less conventional projects.
At the launch of a major technology competition, the First Global Challenge, held in Dubai in 2019, he said: “We are steadfast in our journey of equipping talent with vital skills and tools
Sheikh Hamdan is keen to promote green initiatives. As patron of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, he is a major supporter of alternative energy sources.
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He has been instrumental in encouraging Dubai homeowners to install solar panels on their properties, and he is involved in a push to provide charging stations for electric vehicles. The city’s target is to produce 75 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2050. As if to illustrate the extent of his space-age ambition, in January 2020, Sheikh Hamdan signed off on the final piece of the UAE’s plans to launch a probe to the planet Mars this year. The Hope Probe mission is the start of a dream by the UAE, which has already invested $5.4bn in space technology to establish a colony on Mars early in the 22nd Century. The spacecraft will collect scientific data on the planet’s upper and lower atmospheres. The Crown Prince is the chairman of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, on the eastern outskirts of Dubai. He has been working tirelessly to ensure that the UAE will become the first Islamic country to launch a space probe. The eventual aim is to establish a space city of 600,000 people on the Red Planet. The Crown Prince may not be on board when the envisaged manned mission blasts off, but his epitaph may be that he prepared the way for his people “to boldly go where no man has gone before”. i
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