The Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA) Silver Jubilee Symposium held under the theme "New Quality Thinking" in Abu Dhabi, presented the general framework of the new global model for the Award, which contributes to developing performance and enhancing competitiveness in the business sector.

His Excellency Saeed Abdul Jalil Al Fahim, Chairman of the Higher Committee of SKEA, highlighted that the Award program has been promoting sustainable excellence for more than 25 years in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in particular, and the UAE in general. He explained that the reason behind the Award program’s success and continuous achievements is due to the support received from His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. Highlighting the launch of advanced international models and achieving tremendous leaps in the institutional performance of private and governmental sector institutions and companies inside and outside the country.

His Excellency Mohammed Salem Al Dhaheri, member of the Higher Committee of SKEA, emphasized how the symposium underscored the pivotal role of the new award model in developing the organizational capabilities of the participating organizations. This model bolsters their competitiveness and facilitates the attainment of optimal financial and operational outcomes by employing excellence standards, improvement methodologies, and evaluation tools effectively. Furthermore, the symposium served as a platform to showcase the Award’s initiatives and shedding light on its developments.

His Excellency Ahmed Khalifa Al Qubaisi, CEO of the Abu Dhabi Chamber and Member of SKEA Higher Committee, said during his opening speech at the Symposium: “We are honored to celebrate 25 years of excellence at the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award Symposium. The Abu Dhabi Chamber is proud to start a new chapter of institutional excellence in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with the transition of the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award towards the application of the Fourth Generation standards, which is now known as the UAE Government Excellence Model (GEM);  employing it in all future editions of the Award from 2024 onwards.”

“This comes in light of the strategic partnership agreement that the SKEA program signed with the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program (SKGEP) in February on the sidelines of the World Government Summit 2024, with the aim of unifying the concepts and standards related to quality and excellence awards in the UAE. Moreover, it’s in line with the directives and the vision of our wise leadership, taking into account that the Award comes in response to the necessities of raising the efficiency of the private sector and increasing its effectiveness, and enhancing the competitiveness of the business ecosystem, improving the performance of companies and economic institutions in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and raising their productivity, in accordance with the highest international standards of excellence and quality,” he added.

UAE Government Excellence Model

His Excellency Ibrahim Salman Al Hammadi, Executive Director of Government Performance & Excellence, and Coordinator General of the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program (SKGEP) reviewed the Government Excellence System (GEM), which represents a framework for evaluating and improving the performance of government agencies in the UAE in order to realise excellence.

Prof. HadiEltigani, SKEA Coordinator General & Higher Committee Member, also spoke about the Award and its role in developing performance and enhancing competitiveness in the business sector. He stressed the importance of cooperation with the Cabinet and SKGEP through the agreement signed recently between the two parties; which includes the complete standardization of modern concepts and frameworks for comprehensive quality and institutional excellence between the public and private sectors. Eltigani also reviewed the long history of quality and excellence in the Emirates since the mid-nineties to the Fourth Generation, which is a source of pride for the UAE as it is one of the most advanced developmental models of institutional excellence.

The symposium’s activities included a number of panels that involved the audience, where Maha Alsuwaidi, Senior Consultant at Dubai Government Excellence Program - DGEP, reviewed the journey of the Dubai Government Excellence Program towards institutional development, explaining the details of GEM since its inception, and its impact on developing the performance of government institutions in Dubai.

In another panel, Dr. Sayed Ahmed Benraouane, an international expert on the ISO 42001 AI Management System at Harrington Management Systems, touched on methods for evaluating the maturity of AI applications, as they constitute one of the main factors for enabling the government excellence model known as GEM 2.1.

International expert Dr. Robin Mann, Executive Director of the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research (COER) in New Zealand and Chairman of the Global Benchmarking Network (GBN), spoke about the latest developments in the “In SKEA We Learn” initiative, as well as best practices and their impact on raising institution performance.

It is worth mentioning that ADCCI launched the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award in 1999, under the directives of the late Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Award was launched to develop the UAE’s institutional performance and to motivate government and private sector institutions to implement global best practices in the field of sustainable institutional excellence at the level of performance and services, in order to continue the journey of progress, prosperity, and innovation, and to enhance the quality of life, in a way that realises happiness for the Emirati society, and solidify Abu Dhabi’s reputation and competitive position as a leading and advanced regional hub for the global economy.

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