UOS, BSV Blockchain’s Association sign R&D pact
SHARJAH: The University of Sharjah (UOS) and the BSV Blockchain Association in Switzerland have signed an R&D agreement to launch a joint research project to develop a blockchain-based Metaverse system to preserve the UAE culture and heritage, maintain its ownership as a digital asset and develop a showcase plaform as a trading marketplace for exchanging the physical originals as well as the virtual heritage assets as Non-fungible Tokens [NFTS] in the Metaverse Environment.
Prof. Maamar Betayeb, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, stressed the importance of this project in strengthening the relationship between the university and the industry while providing a very useful cases of the recent technologies such as the Blockchain, Metaverse, and the NFTS that help not only to preserve the heritage and culture of the UAE but all the Arabic and Islamic legacy in the region.
Besides the research and development, the UOS is serving the community and the national economy by translating the vision of Emirates of Sharjah and the UAE to document and preserve the Emirati history and heritage in its various tangible and intangible forms.
For his part, Jimmy Nguyen, Bitcoin Association for BSV Founding President, said: “With a firm mandate from the government to build and implement world-leading blockchain technologies for the benefit of all its citizens, the UAE represents one of the most forward-thinking and innovative destinations for blockchain and data technologies globally.
“We are very excited and pleased with the partnership with a premier institution in the UAE such as the UOS to develop an innovative solution that utilize the latest technologies to preserve the nation’s values and history in UAE and the region. Launching a new startup will help in creating many jobs for the new technology graduates and create new economy for trading antiques, historic and modern artworks in a digital format and in virtual marketplace as NFTS.”
Dr Mohamed Al Hemairy, the leading researcher added: “UAE has a very wealthy culture and human heritage, characterised by numerous physical inheritances that new generation and expatriate don’t know much about it, and it holds intangible value and considered as tangible assets. Therefore, our research was focusing on how we can deploy the immutable properties of the Blockchain to preserve the intellectual property and ownership of thee mira ti’ s Families inherited treasures and to design a virtual art gallery for the Arabic and Islamic culture, heritage, antiques, historic and modern artworks in a stateof-the-art digital format and pertain its intellectual property as anon-fungible tokens[n ft] and present them in a virtual art gallery in the Metaverse and based and backed by BSV Blockchain.”