Digital economy powers a new era of growth in UAE

A quiet revolution is unfolding across the emirates as leaders pour resources into technology.

- BY DR SANIA ASHRAF AND TAHNOON MOHAMMED SAIF | Special to Gulf News

Once reliant on oil, the UAE is aggressively building a “knowledge economy” centred on fintech, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and smart-city infrastructure.

Today the digital sector already contributes roughly 12-13 per cent of the non-oil economy, and strategy documents explicitly aim to nearly double that share to about 20 per cent over the next decade. In the government's vision for 2071, this transition underpins a diversified knowledge economy “one of the best economies worldwide” built on scientific research, technology and innovation.

As Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Dubai Executive Council Chairman, has stressed, the UAE “accords tremendous importance to technological transformation as part of a strategic vision to establish itself as a hub for shaping the future”. Even at the city level, Dubai’s Economic Agenda D33 treats digitalisation as a core pillar, targeting some Dh100 billion per year in value from digital transformation and hoping to make Dubai a “global capital of the digital economy”.

Fintech leads the charge

The financial sector exemplifies the push to a digital future. Dubai last year rolled out a “Cashless Strategy” aiming to make more than 90 per cent of all transactions cashless by 2026. As part of this drive, government platforms now accept cryptocurrency: Dubai Finance signed a May 2025 MoU with Crypto. com so that citizens and businesses can pay fees in digital coins.