DAY
5
POWERD BY
10-14 OCT 2022 DUBAI WORLD TRADE CENTRE
BROUGHT BY
G I T E X 2 0 2 2 S P E C I A L D A I LY
SAQR BIN GHALIB
Executive Director, UAE Office of AI, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications.
ANGELIKA GIFFORD
Meta Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Saqr Bin Ghalib, Executive Director, Office of Digital Economy announces Pycon MEA Pioneers in the metaverse ecosystem explored the multi-billion opportunity in the emerging virtual universe on the second day of Gitex. Diverse industries from gaming, retail, fashion and sports are looking to explore an increasingly vast and rich virtual ecosystem in Web 3.0, with Dubai Metaverse Strategy envisioning more than 40,000 new virtual jobs by 2030 in the Emirate. To help propel the Web 3.0 economy, the 42nd edition of Gitex features X-VERSE, sponsored by TMRW Foundation in collaboration with Decentraland, one of the world’s most immersive metaverse journeys featuring 28 experiential brands; and Global DevSlam, the Middle East’s largest ever coder and developer meetup. At Global DevSlam 2022, Saqr Bin Ghalib, Executive Director, UAE Office of AI, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, announced the launch of the region’s first Pycon, in collaboration with the Python Software Foundation. PyCon is the world’s largest
Python developer conference, and PyCon MEA will provide a unique platform for networking and collaboration to the developer community. He reinforced that the Global DevSlam is an important initiative that supports the National Program for Coders, which aims to make the UAE a global hub for the development of coders. Within the next decade, the metaverse has the potential to add $3 Trillion to global GDP — a contribution of 2.8% — with the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey set to benefit from more than $360 Billion or 6.2% of GDP, Angelika Gifford, Meta Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said at the Gitex Main Stage. The metaverse will reach a billion people in the next decade, drive billions in revenue and create millions of jobs, she added, stressing that the metaverse is the biggest creation since the start of the internet. Her advice for anyone wanting to get involved in the metaverse was build muscle by playing around, experiment as much as possible and link up with partners who can help.
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