At GITEX Technology Week 2019, Sharjah City Municipality and EVOTEQ announced a partnership to deploy an Artificially Intelligent (AI) platform for the Municipality’s headquarters, turning it into a smart building, aligning with the government’s agenda to transform Sharjah into a smart city. The AI platform will provide state-of-the-art connected services to achieve the most innovative, engaging, efficient, and happy work environment for the Municipality, while continuously reducing the carbon footprint of the building and improving operational efficiency.
Through the implementation of the AI platform, robotics and digitalized services by EVOTEQ, the Sharjah City Municipality headquarters will feature new smart lobby, parking and security functions that use face recognition to operate seamlessly. Human resources, procurement and finance back office operations will be integrated, and the workspace will be made wholly paperless and digital.
Equipped with ready-to-use analytics, the AI platform will also allow Sharjah City Municipality to extend the life of its equipment and efficiently maintain a comfortable environment for its occupants. Customers and employees can also utilize capabilities to eliminate the “what-ifs” in decision-making by simulating or testing future processes to predict the future state of physical objects and understand potential outcomes before they happen.
Commenting on the new partnership, HE Thabit Salim Al Turaifi, Director General of Sharjah City Municipality, said that the evolution of the Municipality’s headquarters into a smart building is a significant step towards accomplishing the comprehensive digital transformation that the Municipality is aiming for by early next year, in order to enhance its services and emerge as sector leaders. He pointed out that the Sharjah City Municipality is constantly growing and developing, and is working to fulfill the UAE Vision 2021 by improving its technological capabilities to facilitate Sharjah’s transition to a knowledge-based, highly productive and competitive economy.
He added, “The Sharjah Municipality continuously seeks to embrace digital transformation and technological development in line with the UAE’s visions and trends in this sphere, and therefore is eager to adapt artificial intelligence and next generation technologies in all its operations”.
“The series of services will take smart living to new heights and digitally transform offices, and how people work, to maximise productivity, efficiency, convenience, business excellence and sustainable practices. This marks the start of a long and fruitful journey by bringing and utilising state-of-the-art AI based services to cater to the needs of the public and private sector and improve the work office and we look forward to replicating the success that we achieve by assisting other organizations in achieving their strategic digital integration and sustainability goals.” said Jihad Tayara, CEO of EVOTEQ.
The implementation will involve the use of Johnson Controls’ Digital Vault platform that allows building owners and facility managers to achieve smart, AI-enabled environments that will also improve environmental performance through increased energy savings. Earlier this year, Johnson Controls and EVOTEQ had also successfully commenced work on Bee’ah’s new headquarters, “Office of The Future,” the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled building.
“Our partnership with EVOTEQ will allow us to enhance delivery for the digital transformation and smart building outcomes our customers are looking for,” said Dr. Marcus Schumacher, vice president GCC, “GITEX Technology Week is the perfect venue for us to showcase how our AI-driven solutions can empower our customers to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds, and ultimately create more intelligent environments across the world” added Claude Allain, vice president Middle East and Africa, Johnson Controls.
