Dubai gets Metaverse strategy, plans to be among the top ten economies in the Metaverse

The UAE, which is working on establishing itself as a hotspot for Web3 activities, has decided to make Dubai one of the world’s top ten economies in the metaverse. 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 over a thousand Web3 firms into its industrial ecosystem. The move, according to the UAE, could bring about 40,000 jobs over the next six years leading up to 2030.

In the coming years, Dubai aims to build a state-of-the-art metaverse ecosystem to offer companies that offer technology-related services. The Dubai Metaverse Strategy will test the applications of metaverse in various sectors, including tourism, education, retail, telecommuting, healthcare and legal, a release revealed published of WAM, the official news agency of the UAE.

To ensure that 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). They create core 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 nation’s economy in recent times.

“The strategy also aims to use real-time data, use machine learning and IoT, and use AI simulation and blockchain to improve human thought processes,” the announcement added.

Market research firms have different predictions for the growth of the metaverse market until 2030. While Marketsandmarkets.com predicts the market size to reach $1,303.4 billion by 2030, PS Market research, Statistaand Case studies estimates it will swell to $1,157 billion, $507 billion, and $1.3 trillion, respectively.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in its latest report said that nearly 700 cities will have some kind of metaspace infrastructure by 2030. However, currently Seoul in South Korea, Dubai in the UAE and Santa Monica in the US are listed as leading cities in the sector of the international metaverse.

Dubai is already taking steps to become an early adopter of metaverse technology. In September 2022, for example, the UAE Ministry of Economy debuted in the metaverse.