Half of the 10 most valuable companies on Earth are making metaverse hardware

August 11, 2024 Coin Telegraph

‘Extended reality’ to create 860K jobs by 2025: EU Commission

July 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

The European Commission has laid out its plans for becoming a “world leader” in Web 4.0 and the Metaverse.

The European Commission has tipped “extended reality” — technology that enables people to interact with virtual worlds — will create as many as 860,000 jobs in Europe by 2025.

Extended reality or XR is an umbrella term for immersive technologies including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality, and is a “major technology enabler” for virtual worlds, said the Commission on July 11.

Europe throws its hat in the ring to become a world leader in Web 4.0 and virtual worlds.

The new internet will impact the way people live together, bringing many benefits.

And we need to have people at the centre and shape it according to our EU digital rights and principles. pic.twitter.com/rc0R3qUm0y
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) July 11, 2023

“The impact on employment is expected to be highly significant,” it said, noting that another 1.2 million to 2.4 million jobs would be directly or indirectly created in other sectors by 2025.

However, the Commission noted that today, most of the innovation around the Metaverse occurs in the United States, China and South Korea.

“Contrary to these countries, in the EU there are no tech giants to lead the investment in the development of virtual worlds over the next decade.”

Most of the AR/VR market activity in Europe focuses on gaming, media and entertainment, but there’s “much room” for other applications, including retail, healthcare, military and defense, and manufacturing.

The Commission noted that virtual worlds, enabled by these XR devices, are one of the technologies enabling the “next generation” of the world wide web — Web 4.0 — where physical and digital objects come together in virtual environments in real-time.

“We are at the onset of a major technological transition, Web 4.0. Virtual worlds are an important enabler of Web 4.0 that can significantly revolutionize the daily lives of people and open a wide range of opportunities in many business and industrial ecosystems,” it said.

Some examples included using virtual worlds to train surgeons for complex medical procedures, using “digital twins” to preserve cultural heritage buildings, or even, using 3D models to solve global warming.

In its working document submitted to the European Parliament, the Commission proposed its plan to become a “world leader” in Web 4.0 and the Metaverse.

Web 4.0 (aka the #Metaverse ) will allow an integration between digital and real objects and environments.

Europe has what it takes to lead this next technological transition — notably for the #industry.

Our strategyhttps://t.co/Bc39OYDkru pic.twitter.com/v4iGqtEkKw
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) July 11, 2023

“Today, Europe throws its hat in the ring to become a world leader in Web 4.0 and virtual worlds,” said Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market.

A total of 10 actions have been proposed by the Commission to achieve this, including attracting specialized virtual world talent to the region, creating regulatory sandboxes to test novel ideas and developing global standards for interoperable metaverses.

“Europe has what it takes to lead the next technological transition: innovative start-ups, rich creative content, and industrial applications, a strong role as a global standard-setter, and an innovation-friendly and predictable legal framework,” added Breton.

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France’s metaverse consultation seeks input on alternative to tech ‘giants’

April 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

3D creation software

The government is asking about metaverse user experiences and concerns along with potential obstacles that local firms may face entering the virtual realm.

The French government is seeking public comment on the metaverse, or what it’s calling the “virtual immersive universe,” to shape “a French strategy” for the up-and-coming sector and offer an alternative to the “international giants.”

On April 11, France’s Directorate General for Enterprise issued a consultation calling upon companies, associations, citizens and researchers to answer a series of questions regarding “virtual spaces.”

It noted the purpose of the consultation is to allow the public to express their expectations on how to anticipate metaverse technology and to “offer an alternative to the virtual immersive universes currently offered by the international giants.”

It highlighted the rapid development of virtual and augmented reality tech, stating it has become an “essential part of the economic debate,” with many companies positioning themselves as solution providers or as users.

The consultation shies away from directly using the term “metaverse,” saying it’s still “subject to discussion in the public debate,” and thathe consultation provides an opportunity “to question its relevance.”

*An extract of the questionnaire for citizens, translated from French. Source: Ministry of Economics*

The consultation provides different questionnaires for citizens, businesses, associations and researchers, but all are mainly centered around the level of knowledge surrounding virtual spaces, the extent of the demand for such spaces and any potential challenges involved.

While some questions are being asked across the stakeholders there are some key differences.

Citizens are being questioned on their experience with technologies such as mixed reality, blockchain and 3D creation software, as well as their primary concerns and intentions to engage in virtual immersive activities in the future.

Meanwhile, businesses are asked about the obstacles that could impede the progress of French companies in building metaverses and questioned about their expectations for demand from professionals and the general public, along with what they think the immersive worlds of tomorrow “will be based on.”

Both businesses and researchers are being asked about areas that should be prioritized for funding; however, researchers, in addition to the multiple-choice questions, are asked to describe their vision of virtual immersive experiences.

This comes after a group of industry professionals took to the stage at Paris Blockchain Week on March 22 in a panel to discuss how regulators might interpret what goes on in the metaverse and how businesses can enter the metaverse.

Lawyer Julie Jacob, the founder of the law firm Jacob Avocats, stated in the panel that “there is no standard,” adding that it’s a “really fantastic opportunity” to create a set of rules and ethical standards.

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mixed reality