UAE, Korea’s Naver Z join hands for virtual reality tech

South Korea’s Naver Z Corp., the operator of virtual world platform Zepeto, said Monday it will join forces with the United Arab Emirates’ Sharjah Media City on joint development of metaverse technology and content.

Naver Z, the unit of Korean online portal giant Naver Corp., signed a non-binding agreement with the UAE city government last Friday with the attendance of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, deputy ruler of Sharjah, and Khalid Omar Al Midfa, chairman of Sharjah Media City.   

Located about 55 kilometers from Dubai, Sharjah Media City is a fast-growing hub for global media entrepreneurs. The city attracts media firms with 100% foreign ownership through a quick registration process, a tax-free environment and a range of visa and residency options.

Under the agreement, Naver Z will seek to promote Sharjah Media City on the metaverse platform Zepeto and share virtual world technologies and related content with the UAE city.

Naver Z and the city will jointly foster talent via exchange programs. The platform will design a metaverse content production training program for Sharjah Media City and support creators and startups there.  

They also plan to jointly produce content of virtual artists and launch cultural exchanges via metaverse film festivals.

Zepeto has quickly become Asia’s leading metaverse platform with more than 400 million global users, said Heesuk Ricky Kang, head of business at Naver Z.

Naver Z will actively exchange with Sharjah Media City on content and technical know-how and support the city’s digital transformation and growth as a global metaverse creators’ hub, Kang added.

The collaboration with Naver Z will allow the city, which has recently launched an artificial intelligence lab, to provide a metaverse platform for content creators in the UAE, the Middle East and North Africa, said Chairman Khalid Omar Al Midfa.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com


Jihyun Kim edited this article.