Dubai Customs Gets GIni Innovation Lab Accreditation

The Dubai Customs’ Future Center for Research and Development has received Accredited Innovation Lab (AInL) certification from the US-based Global Innovation Institute (GInI). The organization is now the first Customs administration in the world to get such a global accreditation. 

GInI granted Innovation Lab accreditation to Dubai Customs based on a number of assessments which covered strategy, innovation support, design, infrastructure, security, resources, and innovation maturity. GInI operates the world’s most recognized, comprehensive, and professionally-managed evidence-based innovation certification program for individuals and corporations. 

Director General of Dubai Customs Ahmed Mahboob Musabih expressed his delight for this achievement, affirming that Dubai Customs had set objectives focused on future foresight, innovation and stakeholder happiness and had been able to foster a culture of innovation across all its business units and operations. “Dubai Customs’ steadfast commitment to innovation and service advancement has made us one of the leading, most distinguished customs administrations in the world,” he said.  

For his part, Dr. Hussam Juma, Director of Service Innovation and Enterprise Architecture at Dubai Customs said, “This accreditation reflects the success of our approach to application of new innovation concepts, which fosters a supportive and stimulating environment for innovation within the organization. This is achieved thanks to the government's orientation to establish such innovation laboratories that support creative thinking in our organizations.” He emphasized the highly important role innovation laboratories have in advancing government work and providing appropriate means for research and exploration of new methods of developing state-of-the-art government services. 

 Hussam Juma added that these efforts have yielded 18 GInI accreditations for DC’s innovative projects at various levels, including Level 3. Value-added and transformational innovations supporting DC’s digital transformation strategy such as cross-border e-commerce platform, Al Munasiq smart application, robotic auditing, predictive risk engine and others which use Industry 4.o technologies of blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data are GInI accredited.

As an innovation laboratory operating under the Service Innovation Department, the Future Center for Research & Development focuses on exploring innovation opportunities in the area of customs and trade services by boosting capacities in prototype models, research and development, customer experience, innovation consultancy, and collaboration with internal units and partners in government, private and academic sectors.