Why is the world moving towards the metaverse?

Metaverse! We have all heard the word and seen the exponential growth within this technology. However, to fully understand what lies within the metaverse, it is crucial to understand the fundamentals, but even more important to understand why the world is evolving in this direction.

Creativity and growth
As children, we are born with an urge to be curious and creative. We develop our senses and skills through constantly using our imagination and creativity. Take a step back and try to remember how you used your creative skills when you were a child – coming up with new ideas, games and discoveries. Children interact with each other socially from a very young age in person and form bonds and friendships.

So, why do I mention creativity and children? You see, in our modern digital world where a lot of meetings and human interactions are happening through video calls, we are not growing our creativity which in the end leads to innovation. The world needs the metaverse to allow the younger generation to continuously become creative. Many studies have shown that the metaverse technologies create a higher level of understanding, faster learning and deeper personal relations. With metaverse comes also the opportunity to virtually become anyone that you like. Things such as nationality, race and looks will have a new meaning and it will bring down borders.

Investing in Web3
More and more businesses and entities globally are starting to invest into Web3 technologies. This is for a good reason. With the current race for talent, organisations need to adapt to the younger generation who are entering the workplaces. The new generation has a different set of expectations. They grow up with games which allow them to enter metaverse-like worlds. In these specific worlds, they generate a digital identity which, whether we like it or not, is of high importance to them. Secondly, the younger generation are facing digitalisation much more than the generations before them. Therefore, the workplace has to adapt with this in mind.

Within the world of metaverse, your mind is the limit. Everything that can be imagined can be built. The metaverse is not the future, it is already here. Though in a somewhat early stage, the technology is growing at an extremely fast pace and continues to evolve day by day.

Growth in specific industries
Where in the world of global business are we seeing the first main growth within metaverse technologies?

Education is one of the first big movers. This is where the younger generation are evolving and spending a high amount of their time. The education sector needs innovation to be able to adapt to the changing generation of students. But how can the metaverse help the education sector evolve? Think about it, the way a classroom is set up and the way we teach, has not been evolving over the last many decades. This is for a good reason but to drive creativity among the students, educators will need to move towards the metaverse.

Government entities and public services have also started moving into the metaverse. The use cases differ from entity to entity, but the overall goal is to change the way they serve public. With the technology, these entities will be able to train staff much more efficiently than before and cut costs when it comes to travel and facilities.

Lastly, industries such as retail and hospitality have been some of the fast-growing metaverse users. Shopping and travelling will change immensely over the next few years where consumer patterns will follow according to the technology itself.

Andreas Baand Larsen is the chief executive officer at MeetinVR

Read: Here are the opportunities and challenges in building immersive products for the metaverse