3 Aug 2022
By Ayesha Bin Kalban, Deputy Registrar & Small Claims Tribunal Registrar
In 2019, the DIFC Courts and Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) partnered to launch the world’s first Court Tech Lab.
In exploring how judicial systems can be strengthened through technology, the Court Tech Lab united companies and court systems helping to prototype and launch the advancement of justice technology, such as Blockchain powered initiatives, AI enabled programmes and cloud-based solutions.
The Court Tech Lab is mandated to help cultivate those ideas by running a competition cycle, helping to raise support and capital for companies demonstrating promising breakthroughs in the arena of court tech. Harnessing the established framework and talent pool from Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA), the competition invited start-ups, scale-ups and innovative SME participants to submit and present new, viable court technology solutions.
In 2021, the Court Tech Lab initiative Phase I was activated, with companies entering a competition in conjunction with DFF’s Accelerator Programme in Area 2071.
The two (2) assigned challenges for the participants were:
a. How might we provide court users trying to represent themselves at the Small Claims Tribunal the ability to seamlessly navigate the claim form?
b. How might we facilitate anyone seeking to register, witness, or amend a Will by verifying themselves digitally and accurately anywhere in the world?
Phase I also consisted of reviewing all proposals and shortlisting solution providers for each challenge.
The ten (10) shortlisted companies had the opportunity to showcase their innovative solution to a panel of private sector technology partners, as well as officials from the DIFC Courts and the Dubai Future Foundation.
In 2022, Phase II of the Court Tech Lab initiative was launched, with the project R&D programme launched to position Dubai as the city that pioneers new industry-specific technologies. Phase II was the prototyping stage for the two finalists, where they received financial support, as well as access to the DIFC Courts to research, test and adapt the technology solution.
The finalists are FaceKi and CourtCorrect, who provided solutions to their assigned challenge. The two (2) companies provided AI-based, user friendly, and secure solutions. The new era of justice technological disruption, working to replace outdated processes with digital technology is the key to creating real judicial efficiency and certainty for businesses. The DIFC Courts will be closely monitoring and testing the solutions on its court systems before building them into our infrastructure for 2023.
For more information, please visit http://www.courtsofthefuture.org/#courts-of-techlab
