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Over the past 15 years, Dubai has come into its own as one of the Middle East’s key centres for print, broadcast and digital media. The emirate’s media-focused free zone, Dubai Media City, has attracted a range of global media brands, including news organisations like Reuters, The Economist and CNN; publishing firms, such as McGraw Hill and Forbes; media production companies, including Sony and Showtime; and advertising majors like DDB and Dentsu Aegis. These companies – and many others like them – serve global audiences from the UAE. Dubai, as a consequence, is increasingly considered to be a growing player on the global media landscape. The government has worked to shore up the emirate’s reputation as a media hub in recent years, rolling out new initiatives in an effort to ensure that Dubai remains competitive with other regional media centres, including Egypt, Lebanon and Qatar.

With a long-standing status as one of Dubai’s key economic contributors, activity in the industrial sector has been a major contributor to non-oil GDP for the emirate. Even as Dubai’s government has invested heavily in areas such as ICT in recent years, industrial activity has remained a central component of the emirate’s long-term economic diversification plan. While some figures from 2015 point to slowing growth in the sector overall – with manufacturing trade for 2015 down 3% year-on-year, recent trends highlight several high-performing segments. With higher lending rates to the sector recorded in 2015 and the launch of a new industrial strategy and investment plan by the government in 2016, there seems significant scope to continue to develop and diversify Dubai’s manufacturing base, which is currently highly focused in a few subsectors.

Over the past 15 years, Dubai has developed one of the most advanced IT sectors in the GCC region. As of early 2016 more than 90% of the UAE’s population reported using the internet on a regular basis. ICT is at the heart of the seven-year Dubai Plan 2021 (DP2021). DP2021 builds on more than 15 years of investment in advanced technology by the emirate’s leadership, in conjunction with a wide range of blue-chip private sector technology companies. Together, the government and the private sector have turned Dubai into a centre for technological innovation in the Middle East, with the Dubai Smart City (DSC) project a testament to the emirate’s ambitions. This chapter contains interviews with Aisha bin Bishr, Director-General, Smart Dubai Office; and Osman Sultan, CEO, du.

As befits a vibrant, highly commercial global city, Dubai’s education sector is multi-faceted, with kindergartens, schools and universities offering public and private education drawing on best practice from around the world. Dubai is a destination of choice for many international students and teachers. The quality of its educational facilities plays a significant role in attracting professional talent to a city that is a centre of excellence and innovation in a multitude of sectors, including aviation, commerce and hospitality. Research by education advisory Altamont Group suggests that Dubai’s role as an international education centre has a significant impact on its economy, with the K-12 and higher education sector together directly contributing more than $3bn a year to the economy. This chapter contains an interview with Hussain Al Hammadi, Minister of Education.

It has been 50 years since Dubai first struck oil in the Fateh field, but in 2016 the emirate’s determination to ensure it did not become dependent on petroleum wealth is paying dividends. Although the impact on its neighbours of lower global oil prices may have an indirect impact on Dubai’s fortunes in the years to come, in the immediate future its energy policies revolve around reducing consumption and diversifying the mix of primary energy sources it uses to generate power and desalinated water for its citizens. Technological innovation and commercial acumen are driving the adoption of solar solutions, so much so that in 2016 Dubai’s energy planners announced that they expected renewables to account for 25% of the emirate’s needs by 2030. In 2014 its renewables targets were 1% by 2020 and 7% by 2030. This chapter contains interviews with Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA); and Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC).

The retail industry has played a key role in the rapid development of Dubai over the past four decades and remains a firm pillar underpinning economic growth. The interplay between retail, real estate, air transport and tourism is fundamental to Dubai’s value proposition for consumers and investors. The city has established itself as the Middle East’s shopping capital, but the same developers that created malls of astounding proportions on the site of Silk Road souqs are now determined to innovate and expand, generating new opportunities for investment and fresh experiences for shoppers. Dubai’s retail ecosystem is driven to a large extent by the franchise model, which brings together global brands and privately owned family firms that represent their interests in the country and region. The emirate also serves as the headquarters of regional retail and wholesale giants that may have started with a single small shop in Damascus, Basra or Manama, while brands born in Dubai itself are making their mark across the region. This chapter contains an interview with Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO, Dubai Duty Free.