Metaverse to contribute up to $5tr to global economy by ’30
Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), on Wednesday kicked off the Dubai Metaverse Assembly, organised by the DFF under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the DFF, hosting 300 global experts and more than 40 organisations specialised in the metaverse technology and virtual worlds applications.
In his opening speech on the first day of the inaugural Dubai Metaverse Assembly, Khalfan Belhoul noted that the Assembly serves as a global plaform for collaboration and a tool to collectively harness the metaverse technology and explore its potential.
“To an extent, the metaverse is still uncharted territory and we are yet to fully understand it. Through the metaverse, we can transcend a multitude of boundaries. We are gaining a space for social interactions with people and the world around us, and technically we can reach people from different corners of the world through a sub-reality,” commented Belhoul.
Khalfan Belhoul opens Dubai Metaverse Assembly, hosting 300 global experts and over 40 organisations specialised in the metaverse technology and virtual worlds applications
From an economic perspective, Belhoul pointed out that metaverse has a great potential as it will contribute up to $5 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
Moreover, the metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over $1 trillion in yearly revenues.
Khalfan Belhoul called for the need to focus on building global strategic partnerships aimed at achieving the maximum benefit from metaverse applications and prospects to build fruiful collaborations and strategic partnerships, stressing the importance of partnerships between governments and companies to achieve the desired benefits from metaverse.
Belhoul pointed out that the uses of metaverses will expand into completely new and different fields and disciplines, which confirms the importance of the need to unify visions and elements to design immersive and useful experiences.
“Today’s event is a real-life example of what embracing technology looks like. We seek to bridge the gap and bring governments and enterprises together to benefit from the metaverse. The event’s sessions revolve around the future of medicine, the future of training, the world of virtual real estate and even looking at how art can be minted into NFTS. The metaverse will be interpreted in various ways, we are looking at bringing these elements together in a unified, immersive experience,” concluded the CEO of DFF.
Over the course of two days, the Dubai Metaverse Assembly hosts over 25 high-level sessions and workshops at the Museum of the Future and AREA 2071, Emirates Towers, Dubai.
The Assembly is the first event ater Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum approved the Dubai Metaverse Strategy in July.
The strategy aims to add $4 billion to Dubai’s GDP, support 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030 and atract 1,000 companies specialising in blockchain and metaverse technologies to turn Dubai’s into one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies.
In July this year, Sheikh Hamdan had announced the launch of the Dubai Metaverse Assembly to shape the future of the metaverse and explore its promise and potential applications.
The Dubai Metaverse Strategy is the first initiative of the higher commitee formed under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and the Ruler of Dubai, during the fith meeting of the Dubai Council in May 2022.
The commitee, chaired by Sheikh Hamdan, aims to oversee all future technological developments in Dubai’s digital economy and ensure that Dubai’s legislative and legal framework keeps up with the rapid developments of the digital economy and tremendous technological progress.
The announcement of the Dubai Metaverse Assembly followed the launch of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy, which aims to position Dubai as one of the best cities in the world by investing in promising economic opportunities, adopting and deploying metaverse technology, and developing digital infrastructure that supports global transformations and the digital economy.
The assembly’s programme includes three main tracks – Educate, Inspire, and Contribute – based on Dubai’s philosophy for designing a beter future for humanity.