Digitalization and the UAE Economy: A New Driver of Sustainable Development

This paper defines and examines the state of the digital economy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), highlighting the essential role played by digital technologies in sustaining the economy and the people of the UAE through the COVID-19 pandemic. In the years before the pandemic, the UAE invested heavily through expenditures by government-related enterprises, private companies, and households to establish the required broadband and wireless infrastructure and devices necessary to push forward the digitalization of the economy. This has enabled the rapid adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the production and consumption of goods and services at the level of the government, the private sector, and households. The paper takes stock of the benefits drawn from digitalization as an enabling and disruptive force in the development of the UAE economy and suggests some high-level policy principles that inform the government policy agenda for inclusive ICT sector development in the post-COVID-19 era