One of the most prominent financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Emirates NBD, has announced an accelerator program in partnership with Microsoft for startups looking to promote user experiences in the metaverse.
The ten-week program’s demo at GITEX for shortlisted applicants will help startups generate revenue, gain experience, and develop the region’s metaverse tech stacks.
The leading bank is seeking startups and emerging technologists to develop the financial hotspots’ metaverse ambitions with three ambitions:
- develop technologies to help companies adopt 3D, immersive technologies
- create immersive worlds to enhance customer experiences
- monetize digital assets and services using decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure
The program, in collaboration with the US tech giant Microsoft and the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) Fintech Hive, aims to support Dubai’s Metaverse Strategy, which calls for creating 40,000 virtual and technological jobs by 2030 and ranking among the top ten metaverse hubs globally.
With the help of web3, the strategy aims to boost Dubai’s economy by $4 billion over the course of five years while also improving the client experience.
Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President of DIFC FinTech Hive, said that his company was “pleased” to partner with Emirates NBD to develop the accelerator, which was “growing rapidly and witnessing increasing interest from around the world.”
“This step reaffirms our commitment to support Dubai’s ambition to be among the top ten metaverse economies in the world. At DIFC FinTech Hive, we continue to adopt the latest technologies to keep pace with the rising momentum in the global digital space,” he added.
Naim Yazbeck, General Manager at Microsoft UAE, supported Mazrouei’s statements and said that the metaverse offered an “exciting opportunity to create transformative solutions” to revolutionize consumer journeys and experiences.
The announcement comes as Dubai starts to support its Metaverse Strategy, which will create a new ecosystem for emerging technologies like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain, mixed reality, augmented reality, and virtual reality systems.
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