Strategy aims to generate $1 billion and create 40,000 jobs LONDON: Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai and chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, announced the launch of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy on Monday, the Emirates News Agency reported. It promotes the advancement of Web3 technology and its applications to create new government work models and growth in critical sectors such as tourism, education, retail, remote work, healthcare, and legal. It aims to contribute AED4 billion ($1 billion) to the national economy and support 40,000 virtual jobs over the next five years. “We launched the Dubai Metaverse Strategy today, which aims to foster innovation in new technology. Dubai is home to over 1,000 companies operating in the metaverse and blockchain sector, which contributes $500m to our national economy,” he said. “With the early adoption of metaverse technology, Dubai seeks to become one of the top 10 metaverse economies and a global frontrunner in adopting digital solutions.” The strategy aims to create global standards for creating safe and secure platforms for users and create metaverse infrastructure and regulations to accelerate the adoption of these technologies. The key pillars of the strategy are extended reality (which combines the physical and virtual worlds), augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and digital twins (a virtual representation of an object or system). It also aims to improve human thinking processes through leveraging real-time data, utilizing machine learning, IoT, AI simulation, and blockchain. The technology pillars of the strategy are data, network, cloud, and edge computing, which focus on real-world data acquisition, validation, storage, processing, and management. Other pillars include promoting full 5G network deployment to enable edge computing and provide on-demand computer system resources. Instead of using the cloud, edge computing allows data to be collected, stored, and processed locally via smart devices and local networks. VR and AR are two key enablers of the metaverse, accounting for 6,700 jobs and contributing $500 million to the UAE economy. Both are expected to grow significantly in the future. Globally, the value of venture capital and private equity financing in the metaverse is expected to reach $13 billion in 2021. Metaverse real estate sales exceeded $500 million last year. Earlier this year, the Dubai government established a task force to monitor the latest developments in the digital economy as it seeks to capitalize on opportunities in the metaverse. Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the deputy ruler of Dubai, deputy prime minister, and minister of finance, issued the directives to set up the task force