Led by Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Dubai Metaworld Strategy also intends to ensure that the metaworld's contribution to the emirate's GDP increases to 1 percent.
The Metaverse is a three-dimensional, hyper-realistic, virtual-real space in which users interact with other users in computer-generated environments such as stores, learning environments, meeting rooms, etc. It combines elements of social media, augmented reality, virtual reality, video games, and other advanced technologies.
Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed and Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, deputy ruler of Dubai, have ordered the creation of a task force to track the latest developments in the digital economy, including technology and trends in the meta universe, state news agency Wam confirmed.
Sheikh Hamdan said: "Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid's directives to form a top committee to oversee Dubai's future technological developments reflect the importance of taking an unbiased view of the future.
"This step will help us fully understand reality and explore unique ideas that will shape a brighter future for Dubai and the UAE, maximizing future business opportunities."
The high committee will develop a meta-version strategy for Dubai
Sheikh Hamdan confirmed that the high committee has begun work on the key pillars and goals of Dubai's meta-version strategy.
During a meeting with Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Maktoum, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, who is the UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Telework Applications and chairman of the Dubai Digital Economy Chamber, discussed how Dubai can capitalize on the metaverse in ways that create business opportunities beyond its physical borders.
The committee intends to introduce metaverse technologies that will help improve resident surgeons' performance by 230 percent and increase engineers' productivity by 30 percent, as well as support 42,000 jobs that will become virtual.
Dubai plans to become a key player in the virtual world and is developing a regulatory and legislative framework for the sector.
It is also launching projects and initiatives that will further raise its profile in the virtual world.
The committee is currently working on identifying opportunities and challenges and continues to develop a legislative framework that covers the future requirements of all sectors.
In addition, the committee is working to qualify human capital so that it can succeed in the virtual world.
Current estimates suggest that business revenues from the meta-universe could grow from $180 billion to $400 billion by 2025.
Dubai's regulators on the meta-universe
Earlier this month, the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced its entry into the metaverse with the creation of the Metaverse headquarters, becoming the first regulatory authority present in the emerging digital space.
Expanding VARA's resources to a borderless audience is part of Dubai's strategy to prototype a decentralized regulatory model.
It also aims to make it available to government and industry leaders, other authorities and virtual asset service providers to help shape the future digital economy.
MetaHQ VARA will use The Sandbox platform, an Ethereum blockchain-based application that allows users to create, sell and buy digital assets.