Proactive Digital Regulation

Bahrain’s ICT sector development forms a central element of Bahrain’s economic growth and innovation plans, enabling the development of multiple sectors and enhancing public service provision. With its well-established digital regulations and policies, Bahrain has emerged as an attractive proposition for digital initiatives and innovation.

The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) is the primary source of digital government-related policies, standards and guidelines for government entities, the digital economy, and emerging technologies. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) is the chief regulator under the Telecommunications Law that underpins a vibrant and liberalized mobile telecoms market. The Central Bank of Bahrain overlooks Kingdom’s developments in digital financial services and agile regulatory framework that fosters FinTech and financial service innovation.

ICT Utilisation in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

AI for Agriculture

The Kingdom of Bahrain has been utilizing various technologies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in different sectors. One such example is the use of artificial intelligence techniques in agriculture to estimate the production of each palm tree, in line with SDG2 related to food security. This initiative has enabled researchers and investors to carry out further research in the field of food security.

Smart Cities

Bahrain has also initiated a movement towards smart cities through the New Urban Agenda issued by the UN-HABITAT. The goal is to make urban areas more efficient, liveable, and sustainable in the short and long term, with active participation from the public administration, citizens, and businesses. This smart cities movement accelerates achieving SDG 11, related to sustainable cities and communities.

Space Science and Technologies

Space science and technologies positively impact various sectors such as education, health, agriculture, technology, security, communications, and transportation, and can contribute to achieving the SDGs. In Bahrain, young national competencies have employed artificial intelligence techniques to automatically monitor all palm trees in the kingdom, contributing to the SDG2 target related to food security.

In addition, satellite imagery is used to monitor oil spills in the Arabian Gulf, using a combination of spatial and non-spatial information sources to predict and monitor their environmental impact and activate emergency and disaster plans. These examples demonstrate how harnessing ICT can support the achievement of the SDGs and contribute to a sustainable future.

Press to get a list of the related e-services.