Metaverse is a promise that makes the world of fantasies come to reality. Similar to the Web 2.0 on smartphones and laptops, Metaverse is the next-generation technology, a comprehensive world on Web 3.0, that offers absolute immersion in a digital world where all industries and businesses play a pivotal role.

 

Metaversive banks, digital healthcare, virtual retail and commerce, even tech education... These are not mere concepts anymore. With progressive advancements in technology and tools, Metaverse is gaining traction, making its existence more relevant by the day. Walking through the art galleries, and exhibition corridors, trying the latest fashion accessories at a virtual store, spectating a live concert or a football match, managing business and boardroom meetings- all virtual activities are realisable right from the comforts of a user’s couch itself. Metaverse is a promise that makes the world of fantasies come to reality. Similar to Web 2.0 on smartphones and laptops, Metaverse is the next-generation technology, a comprehensive world on Web 3.0, that offers absolute immersion.

 

Financial Industry: Welcome Bank 4.0

 

With the increased digitalisation of processes, banks are progressively making swift transitions from existing infrastructure to virtual reality. Bank of America, notably, launched VR training for its employees in 4,300 financial centers across the nation. BNP Paribas, Bank of Kuwait, and Citi are the others to follow the trend and make significant moves toward this paradigm.

South Korea’s one of the largest FI, KB Kookmin Bank, has developed KB Metaverse VR Branch Testbed that allows customers to access banking services in a metaverse wearing a VR device.

“The purpose is to pre-emptively respond to financial changes in the coming metaverse era and to internalise new financial service experiments and technological capabilities”,

Jinsoo Yoon, Vice President of Tech Group, KB Koomin Bank.

 

Gaming

 

Uniting the global community across a plethora of devices, gaming has been, so far,the most traversed vertical for Metaverse. Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft are popular games where players interact with other avatars and compete. Win NFT Horse is a GameFi game from Tron is another dynamic step towards the realisation of Metaverse using NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).

 

Real Estate

 

Purchasing a property over platforms like Decentraland, Somnium Space, Sandbox, or Upland could open fresh avenues to explore unlimited opportunities, like building a smart city or town.

Global Metaverse Real Estate Market analyses the Metaverse real estate market poised to grow by $ 5.37 bn during 2022-2026. Further, the Metaverse could be used as an immersive tool for prescreening a property. With features like offering a 360-degree view and a virtual tour of the property, the virtual world has so much to offer.

Ecosystems like LynKey are offering additional benefits like timeshare, leasing, and licensing for a share of a property. This reduces the entry barriers for international participants, across all the financial backgrounds.

“Virtual land is just one part of gamification. But the real business is the AR augmented reality driven by concrete solutions to property and experiences that will finance and enhance cities, neighbourhoods, investors, and property buyers and developers. If there is demand for that land, if there is scarcity too, the investment will be beneficial. One has to think about the fundamentals”,

Dinis Guarda, CEO and co-founder of LynKey.

 

Education and Learning: The budding up of ‘Metaversities’

 

The pandemic-stricken education industry recuperated by making a swift transition with the help of a strong technological foundation at its base. Metaverse and blockchain technology gave a reliable way to leverage the students to explore even better opportunities that lay in the dark for so long.

“The Metaverse can be leveraged as a space to create more opportunities for learning, in particular, for hybrid learning and providing more access for students than what might exist in the physical setting”,

Rachelle Dené Poth, Educator, Consultant, Author, and Attorney. Tools like AR and VR became popular methods for spreading the wealth of knowledge. The metaverse allows the creation of a comfortable digital space for classes, experiments, projects, and research. Real-time activities and hands-on experiences foster innovation and creativity in learning spaces.

 

Metaverse Tourism And Travel

 

The travel sector is another area where the potentials that metaverse holds are being rigorously harnessed. After serious disruptions hitting the industry due to the pandemic, Metaverse provides a much-needed respite offering critical tools for reliable and smarter tourism. Technological advancements aid in bookings, transfers, local cuisine, leisure and entertainment, and virtual tours (like that by Marriot Bonvoy), to name a few for a lifelong travel experience.

 

Media and Entertainment

 

Metaverse is the latest way to create connections and consume stories and experiences. VR concerts such as those by Imagine Dragons, and Ariana Grande have been the pioneers in space. Virtual reality theme parks such as those by Disney are an innovative way to engage audiences with personal experiences. Bob Chapek, Chief Executive at Disney was recently appointed to oversee its metaverse strategy. He describes it to be

“the next great storytelling frontier and a strategic priority”.

 

 

Medicine and Healthcare

 

3D visualisation of the human body, carrying out virtual surgical procedures before carrying out a real surgery is one of the areas where Metaverse proves its worth.

Medical Metaverseis a project by Treatment, a healthcare technology company in the US. The project focuses on AI-driven solutions for stakeholders in the healthcare sector, as well as inter-disciplinary collaboration. Another project, Veyond Metaverse is a commitment to bringing the first Metaverse hospital and creating an ecosystem for both patients, healthcare workers, and doctors.

 

 eCommerce and Retail

 

Technologies like 3-D visualisation and AR enable the customers to make informed choices while shopping. With advantages that include a decline in product returns and higher conversions, it is the connecting link between retail and eCommerce in the physical space and the virtual world.

 

Manufacturing

 

Imagine a platform where the full production cycle can be simulated virtually. Changes and modifications could be so easily tested and optimised while affecting the actual production. This is exactly similar to what BMW did, unlocking greater efficiencies while empowering manufacturers to design and innovate.

 

Architecture and Engineering

 

Building cities and real estate projects can be leveraged by technologies like AR (that enable stable two-way audio and video annotations) and Scene Tracking. Multiple screens and software could create a simulated environment where architects, engineers, and designers from around the globe can collaborate from anywhere on the same 3D assets.

 

The Metaverse for everything and everyone

 

A blank canvas, where upcoming technologies can create a better portrait of the world, there are still some advancements, like 5G technology, required to unlock the true potentials that lie at the bedrock of the vast ocean. The grand vision for a constructive virtual reality space holds immense promise for an interactive realm where users will be allowed to move seamlessly with all the accumulated wealth of assets and avatars.

FreedomX is an immersive digital ecosystem that offers community-driven experiences, solutions, and rewards for creators, brands, retailers, celebrities, influencers, organisations, and the public. The platform combines elements of social media and e-commerce with augmented reality and three-dimensional communities within an expansive virtual world. This article forms part of a series by FreedomX, the newest virtual AR meta-city marketplace, titled “Get to know more about the Metaverse now”. Stay tuned.