OPENVERSE

ABSTRACT:

Europe calls for the emergence of a Metaverse that characterises itself for being open, transparent, inclusive, ethically and environmentally responsible, but also capable of restoring the technological sovereignty of EU industry in the global scenario of competition. Such a European Metaverse would foster the following benefits: a) Higher accessibility, greater freedom and control, lower barriers to entry and more equitable distribution of resources; b) Interoperability, privacy and security as well as data ownership: an open human-centric Metaverse would allow different virtual worlds to interoperate with each other; c) More innovation, creativity, and social benefits: an open human-centric Metaverse would foster a collaborative environment where developers and users could work together to create new experiences and features. In that regards, the overarching aim of OPENVERSE is to contribute to laying the foundations of such a European Metaverse by establishing a knowledge base on it, setting up and animating a community of stakeholders, testing a methodology that combines user co-creation and XR in real world cases of industrial and societal relevance, exploring relevant ethical, legal, IPR and governance challenges, and producing industry standards as well as a technology and policy roadmap and recommendations to guide the future establishment of the Open Metaverse concept in Europe and worldwide.

AIM (WHAT)
 

The main ambition of OPENVERSE is to lay the foundations of a European Metaverse by establishing a knowledge base, setting up and engaging a community of stakeholders, testing a methodology that combines user co-creation and Extended Reality (XR) in real-world cases of industrial and societal relevance, and guiding the future establishment of the Open Metaverse concept in Europe and worldwide through a research portfolio, a technology and policy roadmap, and recommendations. Some of the specific project objectives include: (i) to perform an ex-ante and ex-post analysis of the feasibility and sustainability of the European Metaverse; (ii) to analyse the ethical, legal, and socioeconomic conditions and requirements of a European Open and Human-centric Metaverse concept; and (iii) to facilitate dialogue and mutual learning within a broad community of stakeholders, including citizens, companies, and research institutions.

METHODOLOGY (HOW)

To achieve this aim, the OPENVERSE consortium will set-up a EU-wide ecosystem composed of all relevant stakeholders and will rely on: (i) participatory foresight; (ii) technology co-creation; (iii) realistic use cases; and (iv) stakeholder engagement. Participatory foresight activities will include expert workshops, scenario-building exercises, stakeholder consultations, and collaborative visioning sessions. Technology co-creation actions are collaborative processes in which end-users, developers, and other stakeholders work together to design, experiment and develop new technologies. Realistic use cases will be based on scenarios that reflect the typical situations and contexts in which the solutions will be used. To this end, VUB will contribute to the exploration of the potential of the Metaverse in enhancing human-robot collaboration within industrial settings, with a strong focus on collaborative robotics. This goal will be achieved through lab experiments of human-robot interactions in Metaverse environments. Finally, stakeholder engagement will be a key step towards creating an ecosystem that is collaborative, innovative, and sustainable at the same time. These four types of actions will allow the consortium to profile the European Metaverse concept rigorously and exhaustively, supporting it with a credible roadmap and a scoping of concrete, exemplary opportunities, so as to strengthen European investment and position in the global scenario. 

IMPACT (WHY)

OPENVERSE will make significant societal and economic contributions. The project will foster inclusiveness by supporting a human-centred approach to technology that is aligned with EU social and ethical values. It will also contribute to a more sustainable job market by targeting skills mismatches (including for individuals at risk of exclusion). Additionally, OPENVERSE will give more prominence to ethical considerations regarding technological progress. Finally, the project will also increase sustainability by empowering stakeholders.