Description

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), together with Saudi Arabia jointly organized the STI Forum 2023 “Side Event – Leveraging the metaverse in cities to achieve the SDGs”. This session took place virtually on 4 May 2023 from 13:15-14:45 hours, New York time, as part of the ITU’s Webinar Series on Digital Transformation.

While the metaverse is still in its nascency, there is already potential for consumers, businesses, organizations and cities to advance their pathway towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The metaverse could be effectively harnessed to transform and enhance education, improve the livelihood of inhabitants and generate income, provide access to public and private services, strengthen global cooperation and community building, boost citizen engagement and enable new cooperative and collaboration models.

As the metaverse evolves, safe and meaningful innovation environments need to be established to create a positive impact on the SDGs. The public and private sectors, academia, and international organizations must work together to raise awareness in this area and develop a solid foundation for the metaverse to best support the SDGs.

Objective

This session aimed to directly address and highlight the promising developments in the metaverse for accelerating progress towards SDGs. This session explored how cities leverage this emerging technology to accelerate their pathway to achieving the SDGs.

Note: The views and opinions expressed by the presenters during this event are solely those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent, reflect, or constitute the official stance, policy, or position of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or its secretariat.