Artists, authors and gamers gathered at the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, more commonly known as Ithra, which launched its third Creative Solutions initiative this month.
The programme is designed to empower talent and contribute to Saudi Arabia's growing creative economy, which is largely dominated by its youth. Creative Solutions focuses on digital content creation to build an ecosystem that supports and nurtures innovators employing immersive technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, haptics and immersive audio.
On Wednesday, the Cycle 2 cohort showcased 10 prototypes, eight of which projects were led by Saudi women. The participants received a grant from the Host Unity Centre of Excellence and an entrepreneurship track in collaboration with The Bakery. The 10 shortlisted participants were selected by Emmy-winning creative director Kim-Leigh Pontin and Anne McKinnon, co-founder and chief executive of the metaverse platform Ristband.
This truly is a global showcase of Saudi innovation
Miznah AlZamil,
head of creativity and innovation, Ithra
The projects were led by innovators from education, healthcare, art, tourism and technology, all of whom put up a diverse and interactive gaming experience.
Powerful projects
The arts were in firm focus at Creative Solutions. Fatima Nammi presented Trace, an interactive game with puzzles, which helps users trace art techniques and travel through murals and paintings with an interactive character called Mira using VR and immersive audio.
“A lot of people appreciate art, but understanding the process of making art, especially through VR, is amazing. In that sense, Trace addresses a challenge we face,” says Miznah AlZamil, head of creativity and innovation at Ithra.
Sensing Beyond the Frame, by Jumanah Saklou, is inspired by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky's theory of synesthesia. Kandinsky was believed to have chromesthesia, or the ability to “hear” paintings, with each form and colour represented by a sound.
Saklou's project, too, aims to immerse users in a state that enables them to experience art beyond just the frame. She hopes to promote the experience in art exhibitions and museums in the near future.
Elsewhere, The Guest: Ethereal Guardian by Mutaz Bashrahil, helps players explore “magical powers” in a multisensory fantasy world to guard characters based on hand recognition sequential sequences. Raghad Albarqi's Whisper Down the Lane, a rotoscoped short film, takes viewers on a linear journey following a string of connected phone calls between five people.
Hinkah by Amal Akinani will be an extensive library of VR training with a focus on soft skills and etiquette in an interactive environment, to help users navigate daily life in Saudi Arabia. “That's why we have it in Arabic and English,” Akinani tells The National. “It was important for me to create a library of works that showcases our culture and etiquette, that represents us.”
With Saudi Arabia opening up to more visitors, Virtually There: A Saudi Tourist Experience by Maram Alghamdi showcases the kingdom's landscape with a view to attracting more tourists. “This one is particularly set in AlUla showcasing the iconic locations and beautiful landscape in our country, and we will develop more destinations including Abha, Souda, Riyadh and Jeddah,” says Alghamdi.
Hejaz Railway: A Witness of Time by Atheer Alharbi, Hanan Makki and Omar Khashoggi, tells the story of the Hejaz region in the 1900s. Using VR and storytelling technologies, it creates a narrative for the famed train journey that passed through several civilisations, from Damascus to Madinah.
Makki says people can hear languages that represent the different people, and their varying cultures, who passed through Arabia. "It's important for Saudis to tell and share this historically important story not just internationally, but also locally,” adds Makki.
Symphony of Life by Aminhali Uhoud creates a mixed-reality experience using scents and temperature change to replicate real life, while MemoARable by Maryam Alfadhli seeks to recreate “beautiful memories” in augmented reality. Alfadhli says it can be used as a gift experience where, through VR, a person's loved can ones relive moments in the same location they happened with photos, messages and voice notes.
“The projects truly are a global showcase of Saudi innovation,” says AlZamil.
From retail and real estate to energy, no sector is immune to the wave of technology that companies are bringing, adds Nick Rosa, author of Understanding the Metaverse. “The metaverse will change the concept of reality, and Saudi Arabia is at the front and centre to change the world as we know it,” he adds.
Rosa says people often confuse gaming with the metaverse, which has a “very deep infrastructure” and is composed of layers that interact with each other to achieve the moonshot vision.
Creative Solutions is a year-round programme open to all Saudi residents over the age of 18. Participants can pitch projects for the 2023 edition until April 13 at www.ithra.com
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Canada
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
Race card
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 (PA) US$100,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
7.05pm: Meydan Classic Listed (TB) $175,000 (Turf) 1,600m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy Group 2 (TB) $300,000 (T) 2,810m
9.25pm: Curlin Stakes Listed (TB) $175,000 (D) 2,000m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
10.35pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
The National selections
6.30pm: Shahm, 7.05pm: Well Of Wisdom, 7.40pm: Lucius Tiberius, 8.15pm: Captain Von Trapp, 8.50pm: Secret Advisor, 9.25pm: George Villiers, 10pm: American Graffiti, 10.35pm: On The Warpath
if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
