TALKING

The hype cycle has and hasn ’ t been good for the metaverse . It put the concept on the map , established interest and drove experimentation , all of which is good ; but it also muddied the waters on metaverse , and particularly what the technology could achieve in a non-consumer context .

That ’ s an important point , because the metaverse is often spoken of as if it ’ s an amorphous consumergrade “ world ”.

While there ’ s undoubtedly been a lot of effort invested into that space , it ’ s the business-grade applications of the metaverse – in particular , the advent of the industrial metaverse – where the concept and technology has demonstrated real value .

That nuance is often lost in public-facing commentary about the metaverse . It ’ s also meant that characteristics of the consumer-grade metaverse are often ( incorrectly ) projected onto the industrial metaverse . That has resulted in some myths forming about the industrial metaverse – what it is and isn ’ t , how to access it , who ‘ owns ’ it and what it ’ s best used for .

Given the gates are now open for work to ramp up and progress to be made , the timing could not be any better to lay the top four myths to rest .

This bears only passing similarity or resemblance to the industrial metaverse .

While still being defined , the industrial metaverse is a collaborative and immersive digital environment that users can control and develop , blending the physical and digital world in ways that help redefine innovation in sectors such as manufacturing , energy and infrastructure .

From modelling and prototyping new designs to simulations of physical deployments and the use of extended reality in the field , the industrial metaverse incorporates many different technologies to support a wide range of use cases .

Importantly , virtual reality is only one technology within the industrial metaverse . Other technologies such as Augmented Reality , cloud computing , the Internet of things and AI are as , or considerably more , critical to its success .

2 . You can only access the industrial metaverse with a VR headset

Following on from the first myth , it ’ s important to recognise that industrial metaverses extend beyond AR / VR headsets as the only methods of accessing them .

Alexey Lebedev , Vice President – Pacific , AVEVA

1 . The industrial metaverse is just virtual reality

Early demonstrations of the consumer-grade metaverse made it appear to be just a merger of physical and virtual worlds with virtual reality technology at the center .

Companies building out a new industrial metaverse will be able to build their own custom solutions .

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