UN seeks an all-inclusive Metaverse Ecosystem worth $800 billion

The United Nations, through its specialized agency, The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) created a professional focus group towards attaining global technical quality for the metaverse.

These standards will make the metaverse open and accessible for all instead of the exclusivity it implies.

The  group has also proposed to create a framework for a business and technical  environment that will foster market interest, invention, and cost-point in the metaverse industry. By 2024, it will have a value worth $800 billion. 

Metaverse standardization plans

The ITU group plans to create technical standards for the metaverse to promote digital connectivity and facilitate sustainable digital transformation. This strategy will ensure that metaverse services and apps function together seamlessly, without negative experiences, loss of data, and personal information. In light of this report, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, the first woman to become the ITU Secretary-General in the past 157 years, stated that the metaverse and related technology would enable development for humanity . 

Furthermore, she clarified that the work of the ITU specialized group is the genesis of validating that the technologies function well and work for everybody. She also added that all should enjoy the benefits of the metaverse, and the risks should be addressed. In line with the standardization roadmap of the metaverse, the government has authorized the ITU management to foster digital connectivity and enhance digital transformation.

Mr. Seizo Onoe, the Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, affirmed that the developed metaverse standards must be the collective responsibility of everyone that would rely on the result. 

The focus group will support our work together to envision technology use cases for the metaverse, determine the associated technical requirements, and develop standards that help meet these requirements on a global scale.

Seizo Onoe, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

Abdurahman M. Al Hassan, the Chairman of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group, also reiterated that the creation of the specialized ITU focus group would define the standards. He added that these standards will form a secure and interoperable metaverse which will establish growth and prosperity. 

The ITU Focus group

The ITU focus group encompasses international and regional organizations, 900 member companies, and the international membership of 193 Member States working on issues related to technical standardization. The focus group will also conduct “pre-standardization work” within a year to set new ITU standards. In line with this plan, ITU and NCA will organize an ITU group on embracing the metaverse. This forum will take place on March 7, while the first meeting for the focus group will come up on the 8th and 9th of March, 2023, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which NCA will host.