DEWA organises the 2nd Annual Innovation and Creativity Conference

The event was held at The Address Downtown Dubai hotel, and was attended by HE Abdulla Al Shaibani, Secretary General The Executive Council Dubai and decision makers, experts and representatives of Governmental departments and the private sector.

By organizing this conference, DEWA aims to fulfill its commitment to providing high-end services, adopting international best practices and attracting innovative national talent. The conference discussed process improvement, problem-solving, recruiting, retaining and motivating employees, decision-making, resource use optimisation and customer satisfaction through new value-creating ideas and opportunities.

"DEWA organizes this annual conference, in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to reinforce the position of Dubai as a global hub for finance, business and tourism. DEWA's strategy is to implement innovative ideas and suggestions; and it relies on various resources including internal and external studies, researches, reviews and international best practices," said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).

"DEWA plays a pioneering role by adopting a creative and innovative strategy to support internal excellence practices and promote its vision as a sustainable world-class utility. Innovation is the base for our day-to-day operations, and we are committed to achieve best results by adopting best practices and advanced expertise. We rely on an informative database and various networks to continuously improve our efficiency, reliability and operations," added HE Al Tayer.

"DEWA has achieved results that rival and even beat benchmarks for the private sector, surpassing 10 of the best European and American companies in efficiency, availability and reliability. Network line losses were recorded at 3.49% compared to 6-7 % for the European and American companies. As for customer minutes lost per year, DEWA's figures reached 5.8 minutes, significantly better than 16.4 minutes recorded by counterparts in Europe and the US. Improvements in production efficiency reached 20% from 2006 to 2011. DEWA's successes contributed significantly to the UAE by occupying the seventh global position for ease of access to energy in the World Bank's Doing Business 2013 report," said HE Al Tayer.

"This conference aims to enhance the skills of participants by using group work dynamics, innovation and creativity skills to improve excellence at managerial levels. This will be done by developing and implementing a group of innovative ideas by the work team through strategic thinking and developing group performance, improving productivity and dealing with international updates," HE Al Tayer added.

Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President - Business Support at DEWA said: "The second Innovation and Creativity Conference discussed the vital role of innovation at the organizational levels. The conference witnessed several sessions and seminars where Robert Tucker, president of The Innovation Resource, lectured on how leading firms are transforming their future. Jeff Tobe, Founder of Coloring Outside the Line, delivered a lecture on creating and implementing the ideal customer experience."

"In line with its commitment toward the community, DEWA invited all governmental departments to participate in this important conference to exchange expertise and best practices," said Dr. Al Akraf.