Sharjah24: The University of Sharjah (UOS) and the BSV Blockchain Association in Switzerland have signed an R&D agreement to launch a joint research project to develop a blockchain-based Metaverse system to preserve the UAE culture and heritage, maintain its ownership as a digital asset and develop a showcase platform as a trading marketplace for exchanging the physical originals as well as the virtual heritage assets as Non-Fungible Tokens [NFTs] in the Metaverse Environment.

Prof. Maamar Bettayeb, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, stressed the importance of this project in strengthening the relationship between the university and the industry while providing a very useful use cases of the recent technologies such as the Blockchain, Metaverse, and the NFTs that help not only to preserve the heritage and culture of the UAE but all the Arabic and Islamic legacy in the region. Besides the research and development, the UoS is serving the community and the national economy by translating the vision of Emirates of Sharjah and the UAE to document and preserve the Emirati history and heritage in its various tangible and intangible forms.

For his part, Mr. Jimmy Nguyen, Bitcoin Association for BSV Founding President, said: “With a firm mandate from the government to build and implement world-leading blockchain technologies for the benefit of all its citizens, the UAE represents one of the most forward-thinking and innovative destinations for

blockchain and data technologies globally. We are very excited and pleased with the partnership with a premier institution in the UAE such as the UoS to develop an innovative solution that utilize the latest technologies to preserve the nation’s values and history in UAE and the region. Launching a new startup will help in creating many jobs for the new technology graduates and create new economy for trading antiques, historic and modern artworks in a digital format and in virtual marketplace as NFTs”.

Dr. Mohamed Al Hemairy, the leading researcher added: “UAE has a very wealthy culture and human heritage, characterised by numerous physical inheritances that new generation and expatriate don’t know much about it, and it holds intangible value and considered as tangible assets. Therefore, our research was focusing on how we can deploy the immutable properties of the Blockchain to preserve the intellectual property and ownership of the Emirati’s Families inherited treasures and to design a virtual art gallery for the Arabic and Islamic culture, heritage, antiques, historic and modern artworks in a state-of-the-art digital format and pertain its intellectual property as a Non-Fungible Tokens [NFT] and present them in a virtual art gallery in the Metaverse and based and backed by BSV Blockchain. We will also capture the UAE national archive of our leaders and aware the upcoming generations of the significance of their rich history, wealthy culture and achievements of the great leaders and founders. We will use the Smart Contracts to govern the transfer of these inheritance without third-party involvement in an automated & fully decentralized environment.”

For her part, Dr. Manar Abu Taleb, Member of the Research Group added: “The integrated system will use an open-source solution that will be shared to huge community of coders to further improvements, enhancements, and community engagement. We have introduced an innovative solution that deploy the immutable properties of the Blockchain to preserve the ownership of the Emirati’s Families inherited treasures, coins, personal property or any traditional or modern inheritance. The inheritance then can be transferred to the relatives as NFT transfers and can exist as proof of rightful ownership over generations for infinite time. In long term, it will achieve sustainable efforts for this solution and will impact the UAE economy sector

in a positive way. This is our second time to partner with the BSV Blockchain’s Association and our research group to build impactful utilities for our community and the local economy.”

As a result of this agreement, the university will undertake the project in several phases starting from finding technical solutions to preserve heritage and modern belongings and developing a trading platform based on the blockchain technology, the virtual reality environment "Metaverse" and the NFTs. This will be followed by launching a startup to develop a commercial use and a trading platform for the personal properties using the latest technologies.

Mr. Muhammad Anjum, Head of the BSV Hub for MESA, said: “Developing relationships and supporting the academic institutions is a key goal of our regional BSV Hub and an impactful way that the blockchain technology can grow in the Middle East. The UoS has brought very strong used case to utilize the powerful features of the BSV blockchain. The Dubai Metaverse Strategy is an innovative initiative and a key step towards making UAE the first country in the world in the field of adoption and use of the metaverse. We are confident that we will see numerous engagements between BSV Ecosystem, and the University of Sharjah soon.”