Blockchain Technology, Sustainability and Business: A Literature Review and the Case of Dubai and UAE

Abstract

The importance of innovation across all sectors is emphasized by the UAE leadership (United Arab Emirates, UAE Vision 2021). The UAE National Innovation Strategy (NIS) aims to take innovation to new heights by creating an innovation enabling environment, innovation champions, and priority sectors (United Arab Emirates, 2015). Among these priorities are technology and sustainability. UAE has encouraged numerous technology activities, mainly The Smart Government and The Smart City initiatives. Within this broader innovation and smart city framework, the Dubai blockchain Strategy was recently launched. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the UAE framework and identify business areas that blockchain can have a significant impact. UAE, and Dubai in particular, has been global markets and finance hub. In this paper, we examine the potential applications of blockchain technology in UAE’s finance industry, exchanges, and marketing. We also discuss the role of blockchain technologies for sustainability. Blockchain is identified as one of the most important emerging technologies (Mulligan et al. in World economic forum: Blockchain beyond the hype—A practical framework for business leaders, 2018). We conclude that UAE and Dubai have rightly identified and promoted blockchain technologies and more strategic investment would be beneficial.