The United Arab Emirates, which is working to establish itself as a gateway for Web3 activities, has decided to make Dubai one of the top ten metaverse economies in the world. This week, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced a roadmap for the growth of the metaverse in Dubai. Dubbed the “Dubai Metaverse Strategy”, this plan aims to incorporate more than a thousand Web3 companies into its industrial ecosystem. This measure, the United Arab Emirates estimates, can generate around 40,000 jobs in the next six years until 2030.
In the coming years, Dubai is looking to weave a state-of-the-art metaverse ecosystem to offer companies offering technology-related services. The Dubai Metaverse strategy will test applications of the metaverse in various sectors, including tourism, education, retail, remote work, healthcare and legal, revealed an announcement published on WAM, a official news agency of the United Arab Emirates.
To ensure that the metaverse technology is well incubated, Dubai will step up its game to conduct research and development of other technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (XR). These form essential elements of the overall metaverse technology and have already added 6,700 jobs in the UAE, adding $500 million (roughly Rs 4,175 crore) to the country's economy in recent times.
“The strategy also aims to leverage real-time data, using machine learning and IoT, and using AI simulation and blockchain to enhance human thought processes,” the announcement added.
Market research firms have different projections on the growth of the metaverse market by 2030. While Marketsandmarkets.com projects the market size to reach $1.303.4 billion by 2030, PS Market Research, Statista and Precedence Research estimates that it will increase to 1.157 billion dollars. , $507 billion and $1.3 trillion, respectively.
The World Economic Forum (WEF), in its latest report, said that nearly 700 cities will have some form of metaverse infrastructure by 2030. As of now, however, Seoul in South Korea, Dubai in the Emirates United Arabs and Santa Monica of the United States. have been designated as leading cities in the international metaverse sector.
Dubai has already been taking steps to become an early adopter of metaverse technology. In September 2022, for example, the United Arab Emirates' ministry of economy debuted in the metaverse.
