{"id":352923,"date":"2022-02-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=352923"},"modified":"2022-02-12T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-12T11:00:00","slug":"building-the-metaverse-in-europe-open-source-collaboration-platforms-gain-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/building-the-metaverse-in-europe-open-source-collaboration-platforms-gain-momentum\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the metaverse in Europe: open source collaboration platforms gain momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s public announcement that Facebook is rebranding itself as Meta<\/em>, the metaverse has once again become a buzzword. Various global investors across the entertainment, social media and gaming sectors all want to craft a metaverse in blockchain for their own purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supply and demand is strong – both in terms of the roll-out of different metaverse visions and in user interest that has been expressed. This highly competitive growth market has already swept across Europe, but what have European web creators been developing in order to step into the metaverse? And who are the big companies supporting the exploration of the decentralized Web 3.0 o the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both on the corporate tech and hardware side, the metaverse has become an important path for companies in Europe to think about over the next decade. In October 2021, for example, Facebook announced its plans to create 10,000 new jobs<\/a> across the European Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fierce competition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although the social communication network has by no means a head start, given that Zuckerberg\u2019s company still needs to hire its ‘highly specialized engineers.’ Meta is facing fierce competition from existing metaverse developers and other major market players. Like investors in its assets and accompanying gadgets such as Epic Games, Microsoft, or NVIDIA.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By producing highly popular,3D online multiplayer survival games such as Fortnite, Epic Games’ established gaming platform has now climbed to more than 350 million registered players since its first release in 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its commercial success, Fortnite also prompted discussion about the metaverse via gamers and interrelated academic discourse, with some even contemplating introducing Fortnite into school environments<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other companies, such as NVIDIA or Microsoft, have come up with different examples of what the metaverse may entail. NVIDIA offers Omniverse<\/em>, a collaboration and simulation platform that recreates a digital twin of the world. Omniverse is partnering with names such as\u00a0 PIXAR Studios, Adobe and Epic Games, who make use of its Unreal Engine 4<\/em>. Microsoft has focused on producing the mixed-reality Hololens goggles<\/em>, and have since presented Mesh<\/a> in November. Microsoft Mesh aims to: “Connect and collaborate with a feeling of presence through personalized avatars and immersive spaces.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborative nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aside from major global players, the limitless possibilities of the metaverse and its applications are constantly being explored by creatives and start-ups in Europe. The World Wide Web has undergone a rapid evolution since the initial Web 1.0 hyperlink structure, all the way through to present-day discussions about the decentralized Web 3.0 and even AI-driven 4.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though popular applications for Web 3.0 can be found in Zuckerberg\u2019s own idea of the metaverse, platforms owned by social media giants do not represent the aspired decentralized collaborative nature web developers had in mind when coining these terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006, Tim Berners-Lee, also known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, referred to the Web 3.0 as \u201cthe semantic web\u201d which is organized and categorized by more than just people. With this goal in mind, companies that make use of blockchain and the associated technologies have been pushing for user empowerment<\/em> through shared problem-solving efforts, data sovereignty and privacy rights in collaborative online spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One space where this kind of teamwork is nurtured is the hackathon<\/em> concept. These have become a common way for creative developers to create spaces for gathering people across different sectors. As a massive collaboration event, hackathons can be used for solution-oriented work with a variety of purposes, in sectors ranging from the arts and music to innovation and policymaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odyssey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These events take place either physically or online and last up to 24 hours or longer. During this time, participants tackle programming tasks with the goal of coming up with innovative tech at the end of the creative sprint that actually works in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One company that has made a name for its ‘digital first’ hackathons is Odyssey<\/em>. The digital native foundation was set up in 2016 by Rutger van Zuidam and has held three hackathons in the Dutch city of Groningen and one in Brussels for <\/em>the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Commission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Forbes<\/a>, the physical Odyssey hackathons are recognized as the biggest in Europe. The project also received an EU grant in 2017 and has been a partner of the Dutch government since 2016. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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