Saudi’s NEOM will have a digital twin in the ‘metaverse’: FII

Saudi’s NEOM will have a digital twin in the ‘metaverse’: FII

NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s multi-billion-dollar futuristic city, will have a digital twin in the “metaverse,” allowing people to live, work and play in the megacity before it is even built, the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference heard on Wednesday.

Billed as the world’s most ambitious project, NEOM is a planned 16-borough city on the Red Sea coast in the northwestern Saudi province of Tabuk.

While the project is still years away from completion, Mansoor Hanif, the executive director of engineering in the technology and digital sector at NEOM, said future residents can get a glimpse of life in NEOM through a “digital twin” it is building in the metaverse.

The virtual world will be made lifelike using virtual reality and augmented reality.

In effect, FII heard, residents will be able to transport themselves into the NEOM metaverse and experience daily life as they would in the soon-to-be physical city.

“The metaverse should make humans feel more of a human,” he said.

Hanif also said, rather than be a smart city where often “systems are not talking to one another,” NEOM aims to be a “cognitive city” which aims to be make residents feel more connected to where they live and work.

“If we are honest with ourselves, we