'Immense demand' for places at Dubai Metaverse Assembly

Participants from a wide range of sectors are keen to attend event, Dubai Future Foundation executive says

The Dubai Metaverse Assembly will be held at the Museum of the Future and Emirates Towers. AFP

Demand for places at Dubai's first metaverse event next month has been “immense”, said Hamad AlShirawi, Dubai Future Foundation's director of projects.

The inaugural Dubai Metaverse Assembly was announced by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, in July and will take place at the Museum of the Future and Emirates Towers on September 28 and 29.

It is expected to draw more than 300 experts, policymakers and officials, as well as 40 organisations involved in the metaverse.

People from a wide range of sectors are keen to attend the event, Mr AlShirawi said.

“There’s been immense demand from the government, private companies, technology start-ups, innovators in Web 3.0 locally and internationally,” he told The National.

“With limited seats, we will always offer live streaming to the global audience.

“We expect speakers from leading and most innovative global players in the metaverse-sphere to gather at the assembly to engage in meaningful dialogue around key topics such as the role of government, enabling factors for creating ecosystems on the metaverse, how Web3 technologies are enabling new business models and interactions on the metaverse, and how private entities are driving change in sectors such as gaming, art, education and finance.”

The metaverse is where people, represented by avatars or three-dimensional likenesses, can interact in virtual worlds. It is part of Web3, the next evolutionary step of the internet, with blockchain, decentralisation, openness and greater user utility among its core components.

The announcement about the assembly in July came a day after the unveiling of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy, which aims to create 40,000 jobs and add $4 billion to the emirate's economy in the next five years.

“We want Dubai to lead globally in adopting the technology of the future, understanding its developments, harnessing its potential and driving change,” Sheikh Hamdan said at the time.

The event next month will help Dubai progress in its metaverse ambitions by bringing together technology companies building on the metaverse and Web3 to Dubai to discuss their work with a wider audience of government and enterprise leaders, Mr AlShirawi said.

It will create a “global platform for collaboration and opportunities around emerging technologies, elevating the readiness of Dubai government as a whole”.

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