Manama, Mar. 6 (BNA): The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) won the Smart Cities Award in the category of "Advancements in Food Security and Agri-Tech" for the Botanical Atlas project. This was during the opening ceremony of the 7th edition of the Bahrain Smart Cities Summit 2024, held at the Gulf hotel under the theme of "achieving progress through artificial intelligence"" from March 5 - 6, 2024

Mohammed Ali Al-Qaed, the iGA Chief Executive, expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to the organisers of the award and the summit, stressing that the Botanical Atlas project is one of the national projects that provide innovative solutions that support sustainable practices and enhance food security. It is a unique initiative that helps in crop health monitoring, agricultural land use optimization, aquaculture, and innovative food distribution.

Al Qaed congratulated the iGA’s team responsible for the Botanical Atlas project on achieving this award and praised their hard efforts to launch the project since March 2023, expressing his wishes for the team to continue their dedication to achieving more local, regional, and global accomplishments in the field of information systems.

He also highlighted the key features of the Botanical Atlas project, which contains maps of the vegetation cover in the Kingdom of Bahrain, with various classification themes, such as the types of crops in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and their areas and locations. Additionally, it employs satellite imagery, remote sensing techniques, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to derive intelligent information to support agriculture, farming, and food production.

Dr. Khalid Al Mutawah, the iGA’s Deputy Chief Executive of Operations & Governance, participated in the panel session "Bahrain's Smart City Vision". He showcased the Kingdom's experience in adopting the Cloud First Policy and employing the National Cloud in the government sector with its impact on enhancing government efficiency, improving the quality of services, and rationalizing expenses. This approach has enabled the utilization of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data, as well as building strong relationships with leading technology companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft.

Dr. Sheikha May bint Mohamed Al Khalifa, the Director of Geographic Information Systems at iGA, will take part in a panel discussion titled (GIS and Smart Sustainable Cities). This session is scheduled for the second day of the Summit. She will address the significance of GIS and digital twinning in smart city design and management and will review the upcoming projects by the authority that support future trends, including the planning and design of smart cities using the latest geographic technologies and artificial intelligence.

Concurrently, iGA has participated with a stand in the exhibition organized alongside the summit during the two days. Within the stand, iGA presents the latest, recently launched eServices provided as well as several projects such as Building Permit Portal (Benayat) and Planning Platform.

It is worth mentioning that the 7th edition of the Bahrain Smart Cities Summit 2024 discussed many important topics including reviewing models for sustainable smart government projects, the National Afforestation Campaign, the use of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) in urban infrastructure and smart electricity grid, the use of AI for security and safety in smart cities, in addition to addressing electronic fraud.