Is it possible to do business in the Metaverse?

Here is an article written by Marco Zanuttini, Founder & CEO TechStar Srl.

Metaverse, a term borrowed from a well-known science fiction novel, is a concept that, far from being new, has over the last two years brought together a series of ideas, as well as partly pre-existing technologies, to become the now familiar term to define the immersive, 3D and shared virtual environment and the interactions that take place in it.

We should only think of virtual reality, but also of the world of 3D design, augmented reality, data analysis, the world of blockchain, and systems for creating shared 3D environments and supporting their remote use.

If some people still doubt the evolutionary horizon offered by the Metaverse in terms of immersive communication, experience sharing, and real business development, we need only look around us to realize that not only technological conditions, but also historical, social, and economic conditions have completely renewed our habits in the use of technology, preparing us for a real evolutionary leap in human communication.

Furthermore, while we are increasingly aware of how some old habits are dangerous for people, expensive for companies and even harmful to the environment, we need more than just a 2D face on a screen.

And in this context, there’s one of the revolutions of the Metaverse: thanks to avatars, digital copies of ourselves, we can explore in a new way the concept of physical proximity, the dimensions of space even if virtual, movement, interactions with people and objects, even emotions. The Metaverse is a place where my actions, my story, my virtual life influence and interact with those of others and with what others have decided to locate in virtual environments just as brands do with their products in the real world: the development of digital twins, i.e., those completely faithful digital copies that are created for real objects and products, allows us to build, or reconstruct, our reality in the Metaverse in different ways.

The big international players have understood all this, but everyone is understanding it very quickly: the Metaverse is taking shape as a part of reality that is added to our daily experience offline, online, on social networks. We have seen increasingly definite stances, such as the famous rebranding of one of the most important social networking groups or the purchase of videogame design studios for astronomical sums by other global technology giants. 

But it is not only the big names that can benefit from the Metaverse. To the question "can we already do business in the Metaverse?" the answer is undoubtedly "yes".

Precisely thanks to the technology that allows us to create virtual copies of ourselves, the avatars, and of our products, the digital twins, it is possible to imagine, realize and populate scenarios that perfectly reproduce real ones, but also to have the opportunity to inhabit worlds built solely from our imagination, without the limitations imposed by reality. Presenting a new collection of winter sports accessories on the summit of Mount Everest, meeting partners or offering training to customers and employees in a formal setting, perhaps identical in every way to the real thing, or creating the right sci-fi mood to present a rebranding or the latest prototype of your company: these are just some of the possibilities offered by the Metaverse to the business world.

We are talking about a completely new channel of interaction with others, with opportunities waiting to be discovered for individuals, companies and businesses. The Metaverse is an incredible opportunity to evolve communication in all its forms, a still partly unexplored land, where our imagination and creativity can lead to new types of business but also to the birth of professions that we cannot imagine yet. All that remains is for companies to get involved to realize these possibilities, to discover new ones and to exploit the value of this tool.

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