KPMG partners with Microsoft to launch Centre of Excellence for Metaverse

KPMG has partnered with Microsoft, Ericsson and Metakey to expedite the application of Metaverse in the wider Middle East region, in an effort to create more opportunities within the government, public and private sectors across various industries.

KPMG Saudi Arabia has established a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Metaverse and Digital Twins, bringing together a broad collective, with Microsoft, leveraging infrastructure and gaming platform, Ericsson for their 5G technology and network; and Metakey as the technical partner to develop 3D objects. The objective of the CoE is to expedite Metaverse and Digital Twin application in Saudi Arabia and the wider region.

Digital Twin is the digital counterpart of real-world physical product, system or process in, for example Metaverse, and can be used for practical purposes like simulation, monitoring or educational purposes. Part of the CoE’s objectives to help organisations build Digital Twin objects, processes, and assets.

Maz Hussain, head of Digital Lighthouse at KPMG in Saudi Arabia, said: “We have seen an immense commitment from the government to invest in Metaverse and to explore the public utility of the technology. With the launch of the Centre of Excellence, we are proud to bring together a team of experts and organizations to really drive these initiatives forward.”

He added. “A digital-first principle is to be applied across all the services to be delivered from this CoE, which means that the CoE will provide an incubation function to several technology capabilities that will be required to deliver a differentiated offering to the market. Metaverse will help make Saudi firms more competitive and open up global opportunities.”

Zainab Alamin, vice president of digital transformation & sustainability, Microsoft Arabia commented: “We are proud to join this initiative and take a leading role drive innovation and bring value to Saudi Arabia and the region through the application of Metaverse technologies which supports Vision 2030 by making Saudi a digital hub and Riyadh the capital of innovation and AI".

According to KPMG, Metaverse will position Saudi Arabia on a global stage, creating safe, secure environments to facilitate Saudi business and society within national policies with the CoE being the foundational stepping stone towards the achievement of this overall target.

As part of the CoE, KPMG has allocated a dedicated co-investment fund for Metaverse use-cases in Saudi Arabia to work together with public and private partners on expediting the technology for practical use.

“With the traction we see in the market, we are very optimistic about the future of Metaverse and Web3 technologies in the Kingdom. With our CoE, guided by an advisory board of global ecosystem partners and with a dedicated team of specialists from academia and industry, we will be very focused on use case development in Saudi Arabia,” concluded Hussain.

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