The Metaverse Institute

The Metaverse: Policy Implications For A New Digital Frontier
2023-10-31 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
As CEO of The Metaverse Institute, I’m honoured to join Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) and Whiteshield on:
💻 “The Metaverse: Policy Implications For A New Digital Frontier” with
🔹 Ahmad Bhinder, Policy Innovation Director, DCO

Ahmad Bhinder is a seasoned public policy professional currently serving as the Policy Innovation Director at the DCO. In this pivotal role, he spearheads digital policy initiatives fostering cooperation among DCO Member States. With profound expertise in policy and regulation, he helps to shape the DCO’s policy agenda, contributing significantly to the organization’s mission of promoting Digital Prosperity for All. He is a distinguished alumnus of the University of Leeds, UK, with a Master’s degree in Telecommunications. He previously earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. With over 18 years of experience in ICT policy and regulation working for the governments, corporates and international organizations, he has been formulating and influencing innovative policies that drive connectivity and boost the growth of the digital economy.
🔹 Philippe Nahhas, Partner, Whiteshield

Philippe Nahas is a highly experienced Digital Transformation Technologist and Management Consultant, boasting an extensive career spanning over 20 years in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. His wealth of expertise encompasses Digital and Business Transformation, IT and Technology Strategy, Telecommunications and Applications, Business Analysis, IT Processes, and Greenfield telecoms launch, as well as Brand and operation re-launch.
He drove policy changes in the UAE, particularly related to international telecommunications, smart cities, government services, and data management. His notable achievements also include the comprehensive revamp of the service portfolio for the Abu Dhabi government, enhancing their operational efficiency and service quality. Philippe holds executive education certificates from Harvard University and MIT, and a B.Eng. degree in Computer and Communications from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
🔹 Thomas Flynn, Partner, Whiteshield

Tom is leading Whiteshield with in depth experience in economic public policy, public sector transformation, human capital development, labour policies, investment policy and private sector development.
Over the past few years, Tom led with Whiteshield major policy transformation projects leading to enacted employment policies and positive impact in the job market. He also led complex human capital and labour models to assess impact of policies and organisation change in leading public authorities.
He is a recognised expert in his field having worked with many governments on institutional reforms, laws and regulations, and policies to better attract investment and help create jobs. He has published studies on entrepreneurship support, youth employment including Central Bank financing mechanisms to support startups. Tom is also also an expert in econometric modelling and policy impact evaluations. He leads within Whiteshield the econometric trainings programs.
Prior to joining Whiteshield Tom worked with the OECD advising governments on their economic reforms including the governments of Jordan and Iraq. He is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is also fluent in Arabic.
The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) Logo
DCO:
✅ A global multilateral organization that aims to enable digital prosperity for all by accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy.
✅ Founded in 2020 with 15 member states, account for 0.5 billion people.
✅ The DCO brings together governments, the private sector, international organizations, NGOs, and civil society together on digital inclusion.
✅Secretary General Deemah AlYahya was previsouly leading Saudi Arabia’s National Digital Transformation Unit,Chief Innovation Evangelist at Microsoft.

Whiteshield:
✅A public policy & strategy advisory firm which advise Fortune 500, governments and international organisations on their strategic priorities, options and delivery requirements with senior leadership team including
⭐ Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO (2009–2017)
⭐ Paweł Wojciechowski Former Minister of Finance of Poland, Former Ambassador to the OECD
⭐ Christopher Pissarides, Nobel Laureate in Economics
⭐ Patricia R. Francis CD Head of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (2016)

📚 Metaverse Whitepaper:
🎊 Congratulations to DCO and Whiteshield for producing such great whitepaper on metaverse. You can download it here https://dco.org/library/

🔗 Register here
https://lnkd.in/dDr7wfZ3
✴ Topics Covering:
✓ A complete understanding of the metaverse and its policy implications.
✓ The innovative approaches and technologies that shape the metaverse.
✓ How the metaverse is revolutionizing diverse sectors, from medicine to education and beyond.
✓ Real-life examples and case studies demonstrating the transformative applications of the metaverse.
✓ The practical ways that individuals and businesses can adapt and thrive in the metaverse.

UN ITU Event How to successfully develop People-Centred CitiVerse?
2023-10-30 14:00 - 16:00 (Europe/London)
Metaverses for Cities
While the hype of metaverse is gradually fade away, the opportunity of using metaverse for future cities development seem to start to pick up.
The metaverse is a virtual world that is still under development, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way we live, work, and play. Cities are at the forefront of this revolution, as they are looking for ways to use the metaverse to improve the lives of their residents.

One way that cities are using the metaverse is to create digital twins of themselves. Digital twins are virtual representations of real-world objects and systems. They can be used to simulate and analyze different scenarios, which can help cities to make better decisions about urban planning, transportation, and other important issues.

Metaverse Seoul digital twin

Seoul, South Korea, is one of the first cities in the world to create a digital twin. The Metaverse Seoul platform allows users to explore a virtual replica of the city, including its buildings, streets, and parks. Users can also use the platform to access government services, participate in cultural events, and even shop for virtual goods and services.
Another way that cities are using the metaverse is to create new educational and training opportunities. For example, the city of Dubai is developing a metaverse-based platform that will allow students to learn about different aspects of urban planning and design. The platform will also allow students to practice their skills in a simulated environment.

Dubai metaversebased platform for urban planning and design

Dubai is at the forefront of innovation in many areas, including the metaverse. In 2022, Dubai Municipality announced plans to develop a metaverse-based platform for urban planning and design. This platform will allow planners and designers to create and visualize digital twins of Dubai, which can then be used to test and evaluate different urban planning scenarios.
The Dubai metaverse-based platform for urban planning and design is expected to have a number of benefits, including:

Improved efficiency: The platform will allow planners and designers to work together more efficiently and collaboratively. They will be able to share and review plans in real time, and they will be able to test and evaluate different scenarios without having to build physical prototypes.
Better decision-making: The platform will provide planners and designers with a more realistic and immersive view of Dubai. This will help them to make better decisions about the city’s future development.
Increased public engagement: The platform can be used to engage the public in the urban planning process. Residents can use the platform to view and comment on proposed plans, and they can also use the platform to suggest their own ideas for the city’s future.

Overall, the Dubai metaverse-based platform for urban planning and design has the potential to make Dubai a more sustainable, livable, and inclusive city.

Santa Monica metaversebased platform for businesses

Santa Monica is home to a number of innovative companies, including several that are developing metaverse-based platforms for businesses. One of these is FlickPlay, which launched in 2022 and became the first U.S. city to offer access to the metaverse through its app.
FlickPlay is a play-to-earn metaverse social app that allows users to collect digital collectibles and rewards, which can then be redeemed for physical items at retailers and locations throughout Santa Monica. The app uses augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create an immersive experience that bridges the physical and digital worlds.
Another Santa Monica-based company developing metaverse platforms for businesses is Mesmerise. Mesmerise is a UK-based company that opened its first U.S. office in Santa Monica in 2022. Mesmerise helps businesses integrate VR into their operations, including for training, marketing, and collaboration.
Mesmerise’s metaverse platform allows businesses to create custom virtual worlds where employees and customers can interact with each other and with digital objects. For example, Mesmerise has worked with Bold Capital Partners, a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm, to create a virtual gathering space where the firm can hold meetings with entrepreneurs and investors.

The metaverse is still in its early stages of development, but it has the potential to have a major impact on cities. As the metaverse continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative and creative ways that cities are using it to improve the lives of their residents.
Here are some other potential benefits of the metaverse for cities:
Improved citizen engagement: The metaverse can be used to create more engaging and interactive ways for citizens to participate in government and community activities.
Enhanced public services: The metaverse can be used to deliver public services in a more efficient and effective way. For example, citizens could use the metaverse to access government services, such as applying for a passport or renewing their driver’s license, without having to visit a physical government office.
Reduced traffic congestion: The metaverse could help to reduce traffic congestion by providing people with a way to work, learn, and socialize remotely.
More sustainable urban planning: The metaverse can be used to simulate and analyze different urban planning scenarios, which can help cities to make more sustainable decisions about land use, transportation, and energy consumption.
Overall, the metaverse has the potential to make cities more livable, sustainable, and equitable.

People Centred CitiVerse
CitiVerse is a vision for the future of cities and communities, where digital twins are interconnected to create a virtual world that is synchronized with the physical world. It is a space where citizens, businesses, and governments can interact and collaborate in new ways, to solve complex problems and build a more sustainable and inclusive future.

The European Commission launched the CitiVerse initiative in 2023, with the goal of developing a European alternative to the metaverse. The initiative is based on the principles of openness, transparency, and inclusivity, and it aims to create a CitiVerse that is accessible to all, regardless of their income, location, or technological expertise.

The key feature of CitiVerse is that it put the needs, wellbeing and happiness of people at the centre of its development. You can say CitiVerse means Metaverse for Cities, or Citizen Centred Metaverse for future cities. The key is to empower tens of thousands to tens of millions of people to use immersive technolgoies to play a proactive role in the creation and development of their cities.
The possibilities are endless. The CitiVerse is a new world, and it is up to us to shape it.

UN ITU

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies (ICTs). It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, making it the oldest UN agency. Doreen Bogdan-Martin is the Secretary-General of ITU, the first woman to serve as its head.
The ITU’s main functions are to:
Promote the shared global use of the radio spectrum, which is a finite resource that is essential for wireless communications.
Facilitate international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, which are also a finite resource that is essential for satellite communications.
Assist in developing and coordinating worldwide technical standards, which ensure that ICT networks and devices can interoperate seamlessly.
Work to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world, to help bridge the digital divide.
The ITU has played a key role in the development of ICTs. It was responsible for the development of the first international telegraph and telephone conventions, and it has continued to play a leading role in the development of new technologies, such as the Internet and mobile communications.
The ITU’s work is essential for the continued development and growth of ICTs. It helps to ensure that ICTs are used in a fair and equitable manner, and it helps to promote the benefits of ICTs for all.

Here are some of the ITU’s key activities:
World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) are held every three to four years to allocate the radio spectrum and satellite orbits.
ITU-T Recommendations are technical standards that ensure that ICT networks and devices can interoperate seamlessly.
ITU-D Development Programmes provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries to improve their telecommunication infrastructure.
The ITU is a global organization with over 193 member states. It also has a number of associate members, such as non-governmental organizations and private sector companies.
The ITU’s headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland.

ITU and The Metaverse Institute are partnering together to organise a series of webinars with high level leaders to define and develop the UN roadmap on CitiVerse-People Centred Future Cities

As CEO of The Metaverse Institute and Co-chair of International Telecommunication Union FG-MV Task Group on Pre-standardisation on CitiVerse, we are honoured to partner with ITU to organise a series of webinars to set up the UN definition and roadmap on how governments worldwide can use emerging technologies to develop people-centred future cities that are inclusive, sustainable and participatory.
The first epesode, we are honoured to have some of the world’s leading experts joining us for this disucssion on “How to successfully develop People-Centred citiverse?”

Dr Christina Yan Zhang
CEO of The Metaverse Institute
Christina will be moderating the 2 hours session with the worlds top leaders on the future development of CitiVerse for the UN.

Luis Bernardo Nava Guerrero
Mayor, Queretaro Municipio de Querétaro
Mexico

Luis Nava Guerrero was born on January 18th 1975 in Santiago de Queretaro, Queretaro. He has a Bachelor Degree in Economics and a Master Degree in High Management. He is a member of the National Action Party (PAN). He has been local legislator (2012-2015) Chief of Staff of the Governor’s Office at Queretaro and became the first Mayor in being reelected in the city of Queretaro.
According to different polling houses, he is one of the three best evaluated mayors in the Country, with a 77% of approval within the population. He is President of the Mexican World Heritage Cities Association and Vice President of the Mayors Nacional Association, where municipalities are strengthened through sharing best practices and experiences.
On April 2022, he participated in the special meeting of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations at New York, representing the world’s local governments, and on July 2023, he participated at the United Nations Assembly of the Habitat that was celebrated at Nairobi, Kenya. Queretaro is the fourth city in Latin America to count with the three most relevant designations given by the UNESCO: World Heritage City, since 1996, and during Luis Nava mandate the designation as Creative City of Design (2019) and Learning City (2022).
As a Creative and Learning City, and also as a member of the Michelin Cities Network, Luis Nava has promoted in Queretaro innovative solutions in the city, for the best quality of life of its inhabitants, giving a special place to the use of technology in areas such as mobility, security and public services. Because of this, he has pushed forward the concept of smart cities in Mexico, and he has been invited to international forums on this matter.

Dr Jung Sook Park
Secretary General
WeGO | World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization

Jung Sook Park focuses on Human-Centered Sustainable Smart Cities as the Secretary general of WeGO.
“As the world faces intensifying challenges as environmental tensions grow, populations age and urbanize, and wealth and consumption increase, it has become more important to address these challenges using a holistic and smart approach. In every sector of today’s society, ranging from the economy, education, infrastructure, governance, welfare, environment, tourism, and media, to arts, policy implementation is not possible without the smart city technology or mechanism. Nowadays, smart city development is increasingly turning its attention to establishing the software or contents of smart cities. If culture is defined as ‘what we repeatedly do,’ the smart city is no longer a simple application of technology to solve urban issues. Smart city framework has become a culture in itself for the lives of citizens.”
Prior to her appointment as Secretary-General of WeGO in 2021, Jung Sook Park has dedicated her career in the field of international cooperation. She served as the Korean Representative of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) for ten years from 2009 to 2018, and she worked as a high-profile broadcaster as the host of morning news shows for major TV networks in Korea for over ten years from 1994 to 2004, as well as starring in “Jewel in the Palace,” one of the highest-rated TV dramas in the world. Since then, she has focused her career on education and research as a professor at Kyung Hee University and an adjunct professor of cultural diplomacy at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea.
She served as the honorary ambassador for Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the City of Seoul with a mission of increasing public awareness on Korea’s leading and responsible role in the international community. As a philanthropist, she is the Founder and Executive Director of the Multicultural Network & Hope Kids Korea, an NGO that provides education and mentoring for underprivileged children in Korea. Ms. Park is a graduate of Seoul Women’s University (BA), Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (MIA)in U.S., and Yonsei University’s School of Public Administration (MPA) in Korea. She was a visiting scholar and studied in a doctoral program at Keio University in Japan.
Currently, she has been appointed as a member of the Committee for International Development Cooperation and Exim bank of Korea, which decides Korea’s ODA policy, and is also a member of the board of the Korean Olympic Committee, responsible for sports exchanges, and engages in a member of the audience committee of CBS Broadcasting Corporation.

Dr Edlam Abera Yemeru
Chief, Knowledge and Innovation Branch
UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme)

Edlam Abera Yemeru is currently the Chief of the Urbanization and Development Section at UN-Habitat responsible to lead global policy analysis, data analytics and foresight to assess and propose solutions for sustainable urbanization. She also leads the Agency in its innovation work on digital and smart city solutions.
This involves strengthening linkages between spatial planning and economic, national and sector policy priorities and investments, including through long-term program and project prioritization. She also co-authored several editions of the Global Report on Human Settlements.
Edlam holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Human Geography from the University of London.

Nicholas You
Executive Director
Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, China

Nicholas You is a veteran urban specialist. He served as the senior policy and planning advisor to UN-Habitat and as the manager of the Habitat II Conference held in Istanbul in 1996.
He is the founder and honorary chairman of the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign Steering Committee, former thought leader for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Siemens, ENGIE and the Global Cities Business Alliance. He served for several years as an adjunct to the Center for Livable Cities, Singapore.
He is currently the Executive Director of the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, co-Chair of the Open Green City Lab in Shenzhen, and senior green finance advisor to the China City Development Foundation. He regularly advises central and local governments, technology companies and civil society organisations on urban sustainability, urban governance and urban innovation and has written and co-authored key policy papers for the U20.
More recently he has been advising cities and regional authorities on the potential contribution of the metaverse to sustainable development.

Roland van der Heijden
Program Manager Digital City, Gemeente Rotterdam
The Netherland

From origin a city planner Roland always has had a great interest in how a city is developing. Recently a whole new world is added to the ‘traditional’ social-physical city, namely the digital city.
In the future city people will live, move and interact fluidly between complete digital surroundings, complete physical surroundings and every hybrid form in between. In this new reality digital is much more than just an instrument for solutions, it will fundamentally change our behavior and the world we live in. If this is the new reality we are facing, what does this mean for our concept of cities? What kind of images are attached to this new city? What does this fundamental shift do with the challenges cities are dealing with? And what is the role of the government in this new reality?
Questions Rotterdam tries to answer in her digital city program, of which Roland is the program manager.

Dr Marwan Alzarouni
Strategic Advisor, Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism
CEO, Dubai Blockchain Center, UAE

Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni is a distinguished Strategic Advisor at the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism. He boasts an extensive career spanning over two decades, during which he has made significant contributions to the development of projects in the domains of Emerging Technology, Information Security, Digital Forensics, and Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. Al Zarouni’s influence extends beyond his advisory role, as he is an esteemed keynote speaker and a trusted advisor to the Dubai Government. He actively participates in various high-level Councils and Committees dedicated to Cyber Security, Blockchain Technology, and Artificial Intelligence. His expertise in blockchain technology has earned him international recognition, notably as one of CoinTelegraph’s top 100 most influential figures worldwide in blockchain and cryptocurrencies in 2022.
Furthermore, Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni has served as a distinguished member of the Global Future Council on Cryptocurrencies at the World Economic Forum from 2020 to 2021. As a testament to his commitment to technological innovation, he has established the region’s premier hub for blockchain technology and currently holds the position of CEO at the Dubai Blockchain Center.

Teppo Rantanen
Executive Director
Tampereen kaupunki – City of Tampere, Finland

Teppo is Executive Director, City of Tampere, growth, innovation and competitiveness. Responsible for Smart City program and other major city development programs.
Teppo has been with Deloitte 2002-2016, last two years in London as a member of Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications leadership team, before that CEO of Deloitte Finland for 12 years. Before joining Deloitte Teppo was Nordic leader of Andersen Risk Consulting, located in Stockholm and prior to that in Helsinki and London.

Dr Ian Oppermann
Chief Data Scientist NSW Government, Australia
President, National Committee of Australia, IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
Chair – Standards Development & Accreditation Committee, Standards Australia

Dr. Ian Oppermann is the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist working within the Department of Customer Service. He is also an Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He heads the NSW government’s AI Review Committee and Smart Places Advisory Council.
Ian is considered a thought leader in the area of the Digital Economy and is a regular speaker on “Big Data”, broadband enabled services and the impact of technology on society. Ian has an MBA from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy in Mobile Telecommunications from Sydney University. Ian is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, is a Fellow and Immediate Past President of the Australian Computer Society, Fellow of the NSW Royal Society, and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Ralf Ma
Chair IEEE Metaverse Standards Working Group
Chair of Membership Development of the IEEE Digital Transformation Association

Ralf Ma is an expert in the field of consumer electronics. He has worked in the field of consumer electronics for more than 20 years and led the development of a variety of products such as set-top boxes, PDAs, mobile phones and smart TVs. These products have sold more than one million units in many countries.
Ralf Ma is currently working as the director of technology on VerseMaker. VerseMaker provides integrated and enabling services for China’s metaverse industry based on the world, and is committed to becoming China’s research and development, education and training, large enterprises, start-up companies and investment institutions. It is a bridge and catalyst to participate in the innovation and cooperation ecology of the global Metaverse. Before joining VerseMaker, Ralf Ma worked as a technical manager and principal engineer at Kudelski Group, OpenTV and IBM.
Ralf Ma also assumes multiple leadership positions in international and domestic organizations, including the Secretary of IEEE Metaverse Standards Committee, the Chair of IEEE Metaverse Standards Working Group, the Chair of Membership Development of the IEEE Digital Transformation Association, the Deputy Secretary of the Blockchain Committee of the Chinese Institute of Communications, etc.

Cristina Bueti
Counsellor
ITU Focus Group on metaverse (FG-MV)

Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Environment and Smart Sustainable Cities. She is also the Counsellor of ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)” at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She also serves as TSB/ITU focal point for Latin America.
Cristina Bueti graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, Law and International Cooperation and Development of the University of Florence, where she completed postgraduate studies in International Cooperation and Telecommunications Law in Europe. She also holds a specialization in Environmental Law with a special focus on Telecommunications. In 2003, Ms. Bueti built on her academic credentials by completing a specialized course in peace keeping and international cooperation with special focus on telecommunications at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, before joining the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in January 2004.
As part of the International Women’s Day 2016, she was named as one of the twenty Geneva-based inspirational women working to protect the environment. She has authored over 40 reports on telecommunication issues. A native Italian speaker, Cristina is also fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Special Thanks

This work is not possible without the great guidance and support from amazing leaders such as:

Seizo ONOE Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), International Telecommunication Union

Cristina Martinez Co-chair of ITU Task Group on Pre-standardisation of CitiVerse, Deputy Head for Smart technologies for communities, European Commission ission

Prof Leonidas Anthopoulos, University of Thessaly, Greece

Radia Funna Founder of Build n Blaze, LLC

Manuel Barreiro Castañeda, Aston Group, Mexico

Prof Pilar Orero, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Nevine Tewfik Loutfi Deputy Director of International Relations Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Egypt

Mythili Menon Project Officer, International Telecommunication Union

Anita Kalergis (she/her) Ambassador Helsinki Blockchain Center enter

Amna Fikri UAE Non-Resident Ambassador to Finland & Economic Advisor at Office of Minister of State HE Ahmed Al Sayegh – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Neil Trevett President Metaverse Standards Forum &VP NVIDIA

Yu Yuan President IEEE Standards Association

Ismail Radwan Senior Director, Senior Director for Economics and Investment Strategy, Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia

Danil Kerimi COO Edgelands Institute

Andrew Cockburn Head of Global Business Growth, Digital Catapult, UK

Mostafa ElAshmawy Head of BIM and GIS at WSP in the Middle East

A big thanks to you all!

Time: 15:00-17:00 CET time
Date: 30th Oct 2023
Registration can be found here: DT Webinar: How to successfully develop People-Centred CitiVerse?
More information can be found here
Digital Transformation for People-Centered Cities (itu.int)
We look forward to working UN, governments, investors, corporates and institutions to continue this interesting work.
We hope this webinar can help drive ongoing dialogue about the development of the metaverse for city governments, help them to better understand its potential, identify strategic imperatives, and act as a force for public good that can benefit all.

Metaverse For Healthcare
2023-03-31 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
The healthcare industry is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing industries. According to the latest report from the World Health Organization:
“Sharp increases in government spending on health at all country income levels underpinned the rise in health spending to a new high of US $9 trillion (approximately 11% of global GDP)”.

Among the big healthcare sector, the top spending segments including the following(from Healthark):

Healthcare Reimbursement: $1.9tn in 2020
Dental Care: $342bn in 2022
Home Healthcare: $299bn in 2021
Physiotherapy: $50bn in 2021
Patient Engagement Soluations: $16.6bn in 2021
Patient Support Programmes: $11.8bn in 2019.

Some would ask is the healthcare industry spearheading the metaverse? Personally, I would say it is clearly one of the key industries that would benefits tremendously from the ultilisation of the metaverse related technologies.
According to Accenture’s Digital Health Technology Vision 2022, that 81% of healthcare executives surveyed worldwide say that they think the metaverse will have a positive impact on their organizations—nearly half said the impact will be “transformational” or “breakthrough.”

According to the report, the metaverse can offering a wide range of improvement for the healthcare sector in the following areas:

Immersive training: Simulated operating rooms can allow medical students to safely practice procedures and doctors can use digital twins of organs to simulate surgeries to see potential outcomes without putting a patient at risk.
Digital diagnostics: Through augmented reality, we can use movement, space and interaction to enable different types of diagnoses. For instance, by tracking eye movements, providers can identify certain neurological markers or spot eye conditions such as glaucoma.
Patient and caregiver wellness: The metaverse can help caregivers to learn how to care for a family member at home. Enhanced educational experiences can lead to better health literacy and stronger care plan compliance, which can ultimately improve outcomes.
Care planning and delivery: Immersive technologies help to simulate procedures, enabling the next evolution of care planning and procedural preparation. For example, Accenture worked with Microsoft to help revolutionize surgical medicine in Mexico and Latin America. With augmented reality, surgeons can see patient records, X-rays, CT and MRI scans during procedures. RespondEye uses augmented reality to enable first respondents to access live video and audio communication with remote physicians in real-time.
Virtual therapeutics: New digital therapies are using extended reality technologies to help patients with pain management, neurological disorders, behavioral health and their physical health. BehaVR immerses patients in virtual environments via an evidence-based platform, empowering people with lifelong coping skills and resources that extinguish stress, anxiety and fear.
Tokenization and interoperability: Web3, blockchain and other technologies allow users to securely own, share and manage patient, provider and payer data.

Therapeutic Apheresis Services, Bristol – Red Cell Exchange patient Khan Talbert-Johnson with TAS Nurse Practitioner Liji Thomas

What the patient want?
Accenture tested more than 16 healthcare metaverse use cases and found out that the use cases people are most interested in include patient education, care delivery and connectivity, such as meeting with friends and family from afar while in the hospital.
Millennials (89%) and Gen Z (89%) are most open to opportunities from the metaverse—and this audience will represent an increasing proportion of those in need of healthcare as these generations age.
As CEO of The Metaverse Institute, I am delighted to chair a weekly twitter space in collaboration with Hashtagweb3.org, a leading #web3 professionals hosted by Vedang R. Vatsa FRSA on Friday 31 March at 14:00 London time with a panel of distinguished world leading experts to explore this interesting topic.

Andrea Greene (Director, Remedē Health, Ltd. | Medical Concierge)
Andrea Greene is the Founder of Remedē Health, a Medical, Health & Wellness Concierge start-up that is focused on digital health, Artificial Intelligence, and the metaverse for healthcare. Andrea‘s passion is to improve patient outcomes and streamline Healthcare services by leveraging power of AI and the immersive capabilities of the metaverse. Andrea‘s company is setting itself up to transform the way that patients access, manage, & experience healthcare services. With a strong commitment to improving lives in making Healthcare more accessible, Remedē Health, will be helping to redefine the healthcare industry and help to shape the future of medical, health, & wellness concierge.

Dr Michelle Tempest (Partner, Candesic | Digital Health Council, Royal Society of Medicine | Lecturer in Medical Law and Ethics, University of Cambridge)
Dr Michelle Tempest worked as a hospital doctor for over a decade. She is partner in a strategy consultancy company, Candesic, who deliver R&D level insight with CEO level clarity in specialist sectors – life sciences, healthcare, digital, medtech and education. She edited a book called ‘The Future of the NHS’ and is author of ‘Big Brain Revolution: Artificial Intelligence – Spy or Saviour’. She is a Cambridge Angel investor, mentors Femtech and Ed-tech start-ups and is on the digital council at the Royal Society of Medicine.

Dr. Shivagami Gugan (DevOps Institute Ambassador and Lead Author | Cloud and SRE Evangelist)
Shivagami is a Technologist and Aviation Specialist with extensive experience in transforming mission-critical systems to modern architectures. Having built Organizational strategies and led the Software Engineering and Infrastructure functions at the Emirates Group for a number of years, she derives inspiration when technology advancements are applied rightly to deliver business value. She is a pragmatic Technology Transformation Leader who seeks to apply Reliability Engineering and Cloud Architecture for long-standing growth and sustainability. She is a DevOps Institute ambassador and is the lead author of the SRE practitioner and the Observability foundation courses.

Dr. Alberto Melon Fernandez, MD 🧬 (Co-founder, Crotalus Labs and MetaCare Health | Medical Advisor Ibyhealth | MD hematology)
Alberto has a Medical Doctor in hematologist, with 6 years of clinical and laboratory experience. Co-investigator at 3 clinical trials. Data scientist trainee, passionate about convolutional neural networks, deep learning and their applications in basic or translational research, and clinical practice. Blockchain developer trainee, currently working on a web3 platform regarding digital decentralized stewardship, data tokenization and privacy-enabled health data management. Web3, NFTs and metaverse content creator.

Since the pandemic, what are the biggest challenges we are facing globally in the healthcare sector?
What are the most innovative technolgies that have been used to address those top challenges?
What gaps can the metaverse address in the healthcare sectors that was not covered by other technolgies?
What is our current status of using the metaverse related technologies to innovate the healthcare sector?
Could you please give me some examples of successful case studies where the metaverse have been efficiently deployed to solve the healthcare issues?
On 22 March 2023, Microsoft researchers released a paper claim that, GPT-4 can solve novel and difficult tasks that span mathematics, coding, vision, medicine, law, psychology, showing early signs of general intelligence, meaning that it has capabilities to exceed human intelligence. On 29 March 2023, Elon Musk and more than 1000 artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s newly launched GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society. What is your opinion? Do you think we are or have reached singularity that you want to join Elon to call for pause AI research?
Dmitry Itskov is a Russian billionaire and part of the ‘2045 initiative’, a non-profit organisation that aims to increase lifespan. The project argues that artificial bodies will appear by 2045 which will allow people to move out of their old bodies and into new ones with the help of the Internet. He said that thanks to new AI and metaverse technologies, people will one day be able to live forever by uploading their minds to the web. The concept, called mind-uploading, would see people make digital copies of their minds that could live freely in cyberspace, unrestricted by biology. How far do you think we can achieve this? Would you like to upload your mind to the metaverse and have eternal life?

Set a reminder for 31 March 2023 – 14:00-15:00 (GMT):
https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1rmxPkOXZvDJN

If you have any questions and would like the panel to answer, please do feel free to share that in the comments. If you enjoy reading this, please subscribe, comment, like and share it with your network. Thank you!

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Digital Twins- The Past, Present and Future?
2023-03-18 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
A digital twin is a digital representation of an intended or actual real-world physical product, system, or process (a physical twin) that serves as the effectively indistinguishable digital counterpart of it for practical purposes, such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance.

In 1970, APPOLO 13 triggered the needs to have a kind of “digital replica”. In 1977 Bruce Artwick first began development on Flight Simulator. Artwick was approached by Alan M. Boyd of Microsoft(now a member of The Metaverse Institute) in 1981, and a year later Artwick’s company released the first licensed version of Flight Simulator for the IBM PC to Microsoft. Ever since, Microsoft Flying Simulator has trained 10 million pilots, who have completed 500 million flights over 40 billion miles flown.
In 2002, Dr. Michael Grieves, introduced the concept of the term “Digital Twin” of a physical product in his paper in 2002 on Product Life Management at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in Michigan. He is widely considered as Father of the “Digital Twin”
The US Air force in their report “Global Horizons- Final Report” in 2013 introduced the concept of Digital Thread. In 2020, Dr Ahmed El Adl introduced the concept of “Cognitive Digital Threads”transforming the “Digital Threads” from “document management” to data collection and contextualisation as well as knowledge extraction and management.
What would the future look like for digital twins, consider the fast rise of the next generation of technology- from the immersive next generation of the internet- the metaverse, to generative AI represented by the recent launch of Chat GPT4, to the fast-evolving quantum computing, as well as major breakthrough on new energy through none-radioactive nuclear fusion and human computer chips implants?

As CEO of The Metaverse Institute, I am delighted to chair a weekly twitter space in collaboration with Hashtagweb3.org, a global community of 65,000+ leading #web3 professionals hosted by Vedang R. Vatsa FRSA on Saturday 18 March at 14:00 London time with a panel of distinguished world leading experts to explore this interesting topic.

Michael Grieves
Father of “The Digital Twin”
Michael is Executive Director and Chief Scientist at the Digital Twin Institute and international expert in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Grieves is widely recognized as the father of Digital Twin after a conference he gave on PLM at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in Michigan in 2002. The idea originally dubbed doubleganger became known as the digital twin during Grieves’ collaboration with the NASA while developing a technological roadmap in 2010. Grieves has over five decades of extensive executive and deep technical experience in both global and entrepreneurial technology and manufacturing companies.

Ahmed El Adl (Ph.D. Comp. Sci)
Coined “Cognitive Digital Twin”
Ahmed is an innovative technology and cognitive transformation leader with a proven record of accomplishments on a global scale in envisioning and building intelligent technologies and applying them to solve real-world problems.
in 2016, he coined and published the new systems and intelligent solutions concept, the “Cognitive Digital Twin, Threads and Swarms”
Dr. El Adl assumed different global leadership roles with continuously increasing technical, P&L, clients, and people’s responsibilities($2.3bn) with global software vendors and the Top 5 global consulting companies such as Accenture, SAP, DXC Technology PwC.
He brings a unique blend of balanced experiences in leadership, technology, business functional areas, and different industries that are required for companies to successfully understand and effectively adopt modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, intelligent process / industrial automation, Industrial IoT, smart connected products, AI-powered solutions, as well as cognitive Digital Twins.
Additionally, Dr. El Adl has strong domain expertise in the technology-enabled digital and cognitive transformation of different functional areas such as R&D, SCM, Manufacturing, Operation, and client-facing (Marketing, Sales & Services). This is in various industries such as Manufacturing, Aerospace/Defense, Automotive, High Tech, Energy, Utilities, specialty Chemicals, Smart City, Smart Infrastructure (Public and Industrial), Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, and Life science.

Mostafa ElAshmawy
Digital Lead of the Project Management Services Business Unit, WSP.
Mostafa is actively contributing to the organisation’s Digital Transformation by proposing & developing Digital solutions to enhance the company’s performance on three levels: Projects, Business Units and Organization.

Dr. Shivagami Gugan
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Chief Technologist, Middle East & Africa.
Shivagami is a Technology Transformation Leader with international experience in building Digital strategies, IT strategies, delivering large programs and portfolios, software engineering, service & infrastructure/cloud management, operations, site reliability engineering, and service delivery in complex, large-scale, mission-critical IT environments. Dr. Shivagami Gugan core strengths are towards fueling business growth through Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation.
Dr. Shivagami Gugan specializes in delivering a broad range of complex, multi-disciplinary programs Digital Transformation Strategies, application development, security, and infrastructure initiatives across large, cross-functional, and multi-cultural teams. In 2021, Dr. Shivagami Gugan was recognized by the Government of India as an “Outstanding professional Achievement in Technology Innovation and Contributions towards Nation Building” and was awarded in the 62nd National Summit of Atmanirbhar Bharat: Vision of New India summit..
As Head of Software Engineering and later as Head of Site Reliability Engineering and DevOps at the Emirates Group IT, Dr. Shivagami Gugan led several Technology Transformation programs on Agile team transformations, Cloud migrations, DevSecOps implementations, and Building modern architectures to deliver omnichannel consumer experiences. The infrastructure and application modernization programs in the areas which were targeted for transformation yielded up to 30% engineering efficiencies and 4X times time-to-market improvements.
Gathering from Dr. Shivagami Gugan rich experience of running large Technology landscapes consisting of more than 1000 applications, hosted in on-prem data centers and on public clouds, and supporting more than 440+ international locations, she authored the “Site Reliability Engineering Practitioner course” for the DevOps Institute. Being a Data Engineer at heart, Dr. Shivagami Gugan continues to build cloud, data, integration, devops, machine learning and advanced analytical transformations.

Prof Rick Chandler
Rick has 35+ years of experience at board level, in global companies in the Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical, Retail, Aerospace and Government sectors. Currently he uses his breadth and depth of experience to drive visionary advice, mentoring and consultancy activities. His extensive network from the pro-bono appointments is a valuable resource in delivering a breadth of viewpoint.
Current areas of activity include IoT and Smart Living, Healthtech, Biometrics (ID), SpaceTech, Intelligent Infrastructure.
He learned through the PC, “Dot Com” and Smartphone booms of previous decades that many brilliant products were too early or too innovative for the market. He is passionate about separating marketing hype from reality and forging new and disruptive ideas into visionary products / services.
Some career highlights include:-
• Giving the keynote speech at the UK’s first conference on Mobile Working
• Leading the team that designed and built the first UK 3G Mobile Internet platform
• Product Director of the UK’s largest PC Retail chain and first to introduce Apple Mac.
• He was elected to chair the first UK Electronic Business Forum (representing 2 million users) etc.
He sits on Standards Board Committees in IoT, Digital Twin and e-Commerce sectors.
He chairs the Communications Management Association and is a board member of EEMA.
He is a Judge in several Global Awards (including IoT and Smart Cities) and speaks regularly at conferences.
He has enjoyed Advising and supporting the British International Educational Association (BIEA) in their recent Global STEM Competitions for students from 7-21 years which has given him great hope for the future.

Some of the questions we would be discussing include but not limit to the following:

What is the history of the digital twin?
There have been a large number of articles(over 60,000 articles using google search) claim to trace back the Digital Twin to NASA and the Apollo programme 13 in the 1970. How far do you agree or disagree with this?
What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing digital twin now?What is the relationship between digital twins and the metaverses?
What is Cognitive Digital Twin? What does it add to the concept of Digital Twin? What are the Cognitive Digital Thread and Swarm and why they’re important for the success of digital twin and its future?

5. ChatGPT swept around the world since Nov 2022. Only four months later, ChatGPT4 now includes text, voice and video. It is expected that ChatGPT 5 would be available to the public with more functions. What is the impact of fast advances of generative AI and machine learning on the future development of digital twins?

6. What are the environmental impact of digital twins? How much electricity do we need to power the large scale simulation of digital twins? In Feb 2023, An innovative nuclear fusion technology that uses no radioactive materials and is calculated capable of “powering the planet for more than 100,000 years”, has been successfully piloted by a US-Japanese team of researchers, to deliver a transformational new form of carbon-free energy to the world that relies on this non-radioactive, abundant fuel. Do you think nuclear fusion would provided unlimited electricity to power large scale digital twin simulation like the digital earth projects developed by the European Space Agency?
7. Could you please give some practical examples of using digital twins such as for the energy and utilities sectors from a sustainability point of view

8. What are the applications of Digital Twin for the Built Environment?
9. What Principles shall be considered while implementing Digital Twins?
10. In 2019, Google claimed quantum supremacy that they have developed quantum computers that is 158 millions times faster than any existing super computers. Last month, Google Is Making breakthrough in error reduction of quantum computing after which further advances would bring steady gains in performance, putting the company on a path to having its first practical quantum computer. Quantum simulation and quantum machine learning can be used to build a Quantum (Digital) Twin (QDT) and eventually a full Quantum Twin (QT). As the quantum computing field evolves, quantum twins that use quantum-only approaches will likely become possible as well. In Aug, Industrial giant Bosch has partnered with Multiverse Computing, a Spanish quantum software platform, to integrate quantum algorithms into digital twin simulation across its 240 plants, connecting 120,000 machines used in manufacturing and over 250,000 devices. What is your view on the impact of quantum computing on digital twins?
11. A microchip was first implanted into a human back in 1998, but it is only during the past decade that the technology has been available commercially.For many of us, the idea of having such a chip implanted in our body is an appalling one, but a 2021 survey of more than 4,000 people across the UK and the European Union found that 51% would consider it. Today, more than 50,000 people have elected to have a subdermal chip surgically inserted between the thumb and index finger, serve as their new swipe key, or credit card. What do you see the impact on human chip implant to the future development of digital twins?

Set a reminder for 18 March 2023 – 14:00-15:00 (GMT):
https://lnkd.in/g3vg8iGH
If you have any questions and would like the panel to answer, please do feel free to share that in the comments.

If you enjoy reading this, please subscribe, comment, like and share it with your network. Thank you!
