The Dubai Metaverse Strategy seeks to foster innovation, enhance the metaverse’s economic contributions through R&D collaborations, and promote advanced ecosystems utilising accelerators and incubators. It also aims to foster talent and invest in future capabilities by providing the necessary support in metaverse education aimed at developers, content creators and users of digital platforms in the metaverse community.

The Dubai Metaverse Strategy aims to turn Dubai into one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies as well as a global hub for the metaverse community. The strategy aims to build on Dubai’s achievement of attracting more than 1,000 companies in the fields of blockchain and metaverse. It also promotes Dubai’s ambitions to support more than 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030. This would further boost Dubai’s economy and support the UAE government’s vision of increasing the number of blockchain companies by five times the present number.

The Dubai Metaverse Strategy seeks to:

• foster innovation, enhance the metaverse’s economic contributions through R&D collaborations, and promote advanced ecosystems utilising accelerators and incubators that attract companies and projects to Dubai
• foster talent and invest in future capabilities by providing the necessary support in metaverse education aimed at developers, content creators and users of digital platforms in the metaverse community
• develop Web3 technology and its applications to create new governmental work models and development in vital sectors, including tourism, education, retail, remote work, healthcare and the legal sector.

The strategy also aims to develop global standards in building safe and secure platforms for users and develop metaverse infrastructure and regulations to accelerate the adoption of these technologies.

The strategy’s key pillars focus on:

• extended reality (which blends the physical and virtual worlds)
• augmented reality (AR)
• virtual reality (VR)
• mixed reality
• and digital twins (a virtual representation of an object or system).

The strategy aims at leveraging real-time data, using machine learning and IoT, and employing AI simulation and blockchain to enhance human thinking processes.

Technology pillars of the metaverse strategy are data, network, cloud, and edge computing that focus on real-world data obtained, validated, stored, processed, and managed. Other pillars include promoting the full deployment of 5G networks to enable edge computing and provide on-demand computer system resources. Edge computing allows data to be collected, stored and processed locally via smart devices and local networks, instead of the cloud.

DUBAIFUTURE.AE/METAVERSE
Assembly Outcomes Report
Museum of the Future
Dubai, UAE
28–29 September 2023

Dubai's Higher Committee of Future Technology Development and Digital Economy
Dubai Metaverse Strategy. Assembly Outcomes Report
July 18, 2022
u.ae/en/about-the-uae/strategies-initiatives-and-awards/strategies-plans-and-visions/government-services-and-digital-transformation/dubai-metaverse-strategy

Contents

1.0 Executive Summary
2.0 Dubai’s Metaverse Strategy
3.0 Dubai’s positioning in the Metaverse
4.0 Summarized Sessions | Day 1
      4.1 Keynote: Embracing the Metaverse
      4.2 Panel: Metaverse and the Economy: What is the size of the Opportunity?
      4.3 Keynote: Metaverse 101: Unravelling the Metaverse and Its Future
      4.4 Panel: Sector Deep-Dive: Opportunities in virtual real estate
      4.5 Fireside Chat: Making Trade Flow: How the Metaverse will enable people and operations
      4.6 Panel: Maximizing the Potential of Ecosystems on the Metaverse
      4.7 Keynote: The Dubai Metaverse Strategy: Unlocking Dubai’s Potential
      4.8 Keynote: Building the responsible Metaverse
      4.9 Keynote: Augmented Reality: Revolutionizing the Conventional
5.0 Summarized Sessions | Day 2
      5.1 Keynote: Into the Metaverse by Meta
      5.2 Keynote: The Future of the Nations in the Metaverse
      5.3 Panel: The Role of Governments in Virtual Worlds
      5.4 Fireside Chat: Making Trade Flow: How the Metaverse will enable people and operations
      5.5 Panel 2: Which Sectors is the Metaverse already Impacting?
      5.6 Panel 3: UAE Metaverse Contributors
      5.7 Keynote: Sector Deep-dive – Gaming in the Metaverse
      5.8 Fireside Chat: Metaverse and immersive gaming
      5.9 Keynote (Virtual): Widening scope of gaming today and in the near future
      5.10 Keynote: The Building Blocks for Web 3.0 and the Metaverse
6.0 Conclusion

1.0 Executive Summary

Dubai’s first mega Metaverse event, the Metaverse Assembly, successfully concluded in September 2022. The flagship event welcomed over 600 technology experts, hosted 25 main and side sessions featuring 30 speakers and 40 technology companies. Jointly hosted at the Museum of the Future and AREA 2071 Emirates at Towers by the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), the event also attracted 40,000 virtual attendees. The Metaverse is expected to add US$4 billion to annual GDP and 40,000 jobs to the country’s workforce by 2030.

The two-day event was kickstarted by a keynote from H.E. Khalfan Belhoul, CEO at the Dubai Future Foundation welcoming all participants and attendees. H.E. Khalfan Belhoul stated that even though the concept of the Metaverse is not completely understood by most people, the value it can add is clearly evident to both governments and businesses. He mentioned that Dubai’s “north star” in this journey is ensuring that we embrace the Metaverse creating a safe space that puts human lives first.

Over fifteen initiatives and strategies were announced in the Assembly. Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s Metaverse strategy was shared with attendees. The UAE’s Ministry of Economy launched their third address in the Metaverse - offering an immersive customer experience with a human touch to citizens and residents. Hailing the Metaverse as a great leveler, the island nation of Barbados is set to enter the Metaverse with a new virtual embassy. Emirates Airlines shared plans to hire 4,000 cabin crew members by mid-2023 and train them in the Metaverse.

Key sectors that will benefit the most in the Metaverse were also identified. Dubai’s Metaverse strategy, as detailed by Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Chairman of Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy and Vice Chairman of the Higher Committee for Future Technology and Digital Economy, listed tourism, education, government services, retail and real estate as frontrunners. Many other speakers also added healthcare, gaming, and sustainability to the list.

Speakers highlighted the UAE’s approach and openness to embracing new technologies and the Metaverse in particular. Dubai was referred to as the “crypto-capital” of the world and UAE as a “test bed” for new technologies.

We saw key themes emerge around what stakeholders must do to be successful in embracing the Metaverse:

01 Collaboration

Identifying and forming partnerships early on was cited as a key ingredient for the success of adapting the Metaverse. A panel comprising Emirati entrepreneurs cited collaboration as the major driver for their success in embracing the Metaverse.

02 Regulations

A new approach is the need of the hour where regulators will have to wear a referee’s hat and refrain from being gatekeepers. As the Metaverse is in its infancy, now is the right time to formulate regulations pertaining to data protection and privacy, and cybersecurity risks. It was also agreed that clear roles and responsibilities will have to be established for all participants in this transformative journey.

03 Openness

Some governments and businesses are more open to newer technologies (blockchain, Web 3.0, and so on) than others. It is essential that all governments and businesses collectively work
together to bring a shift in mindset, sooner than later. This includes piloting new technologies that could assist in solving current challenges within government or develop and deploy new government services with an aim to further improve the quality and type of services on global standards.

04 Business use cases

Government and enterprise are encouraged to bring their business challenges and opportunities in the form of use cases and explore how Web 3.0 and metaverse technologies can help them solve these challenges. Several entities like Emirate Airlines and DP World have announced their plans to leverage the metaverse to support in internal functions (staff training) or explore a parallel business model (virtual trade) at the Assembly, the pressure now is on local and federal government in the UAE to lead once more in this space with their own use cases.

Among the benefits of the Metaverse, the most significant ones are as follows:

01 Metaverse Benefit #1

More power to the consumer as they will be able to have increased control over their data, and possibly be able to monetise it.

02 Metaverse Benefit #2

Diplomatic parity for countries, which was evident from Barbados’ initiative of launching an embassy in the Metaverse that will put it at par with countries of different sizes and economic stature.

03 Metaverse Benefit #3

Lesser control in the hand of existing platforms and de-monopolisation of technology.

04 Metaverse Benefit #4

Never-seen-before experiences for users across industries - from immersive learning for students of all ages to new levels of interactions with artists for music lovers.

This document outlines Dubai’s Metaverse Strategy as announced during the Assembly, and summarises discussions and conversations across the various sessions (keynotes, panels, fireside chats) conducted over its course.

2.0 Dubai’s Metaverse Strategy

The Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, launched the Dubai Metaverse Strategy with the aim for Dubai to “be one of the leading Metaverse economies, and a major hub for the global Metaverse community” by

• Fostering Metaverse innovation and economic contribution
• Cultivating Metaverse talent through education and training
• Developing metaverse usecases and applications in Dubai Government
• Adopting, scaling, and globally

The Metaverse Strategy will focus on four key sectors, namely:

01 Tourism

Metaverse events and scaling up the country’s tourism with a Metaverse tourism taskforce

02 Education

Hosting training programs and enabling talent with the Metaverse education accelerator

03 Government Services

Creating a Metaverse alliance of private and government entities to build the Metaverse ecosystem and a Metaverse service migration roadmap

04 Retail and real estate

Creating Dubai’s digital twin and enabling a global immersive shopping experience through Metaverse-friendly retail and real estate policies

Box 1 on page 11: This strategy is coupled by one for governance and regulation, following the concerns present within the community such as security and privacy, infrastructure, inclusivity, talent and investment. By setting up the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Dubai is moving ahead to exploring the opportunities and addressing the challenges.

3.0 Dubai’s positioning in the Metaverse

Multiple speakers lauded Dubai’s openness in embracing the Metaverse and emerging as a global hub for this new reality. Dubai was described as the “crypto capital of the world” and initiatives to attract the right talent were cited including Golden, Green, and freelance visas. Dubai has already established its strengths in sectors such as aviation, logistics, retail and travel and tourism. The Metaverse will help in driving the next wave of growth in these sectors, while enabling newer opportunities in industries including gaming and healthcare as well as better delivery of government services. Excerpts from speakers during the two-day Metaverse Assembly, highlight Dubai’s strong position as a global Metaverse hub:

• Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon: “There is a clear alignment in Polygon’s mission with the steps being taken in the city (of Dubai)”
• Keith Jordan, Mastercard: “Dubai’s top-down approach to the Metaverse is commendable and leadership here is all set to drive GDP growth by leveraging this technology”
• Vishal Gondal, GOQii: “At present, countries are polarised - some are against the notion of Web 3.0, while others such as the UAE are willing to embrace this seemingly inevident transition”
• Amin Al Zarouni, Bedu: “Our government’s efforts in embracing the Metaverse are worth mentioning and we have ample opportunities to cocreate and collaborate, which is the mantra for success”
• Marwan Al Zarouni, Digital Dubai: “The ideal ecosystem for the Metaverse consists of partnerships and bridging knowledge gaps - the main objective behind the Dubai Metaverse Assembly”

4.0 Summarised Sessions Day 1

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5.0 Summarised Sessions Day 2

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6.0 Conclusion

The message is clear - governments and businesses need to act now to prepare themselves for and reap the benefits of an inevitable Metaverse transformation. The speed of transition is expected to be unprecedented - faster than the evolution of the Internet or mobile data speeds, which are among the most rapid evolutions witnessed in recent years.

Action points are also laid out - governments need to establish regulators (like VARA in Dubai) and formulate regulations for a new Metaverse world order, wearing a ‘referee’s’ hat and moving away from a gatekeeper's mindset. Collaboration is key to attaining success and all stakeholders in the Metaverse ecosystem must identify and form the right partnerships, without any delays. Tangible, relatable use cases need to be the cornerstone of any metaverse experiment or project to gain credibility with users, the regulators and the public.

The Metaverse is expected to empower users in never-before-seen ways. Users will be able to exercise full control over their data and possibly monetise it; users will be able to co-create and engage with artists and developers in immersive ways; students will benefit from learning by seeing; and consumers will witness a decentralised and de-monopolised world.