Saudi Arabia’s CST, ITU discuss how metaverse technologies can help achieve sustainable development

Saudi Arabia’s CST, ITU discuss how metaverse technologies can help achieve sustainable development

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space and Technology Commission in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union organized a virtual discussion on employing metaverse technology in smart cities.

The discussion — which focused on how metaverse technology can contribute to developing education, improving livelihoods, creating new sources of income, providing access to public and private services, promoting global cooperation, building communities, and enhancing civic participation — was held on the sidelines of the two-day virtual Global Science, Technology and Innovation Forum, which began Thursday.

The annual forum is organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is, according to a statement “an opportunity to boost evidence-based policymaking, anchored in science, for designing and implementing transformations to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, which are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.”

Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Wasil and Seizo Onoe, director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at the ITU, opened the discussion.

Al-Wasil shed light on the many objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 and its embrace of modern technology, particularly metaverse technology. He cited several events hosted by the Kingdom that aim to stimulate the adoption of this technology, especially in smart cities.

He stressed