The metaverse can be thought of as a digital world that increasingly exists on an equal footing with the physical world and is merging with it more and more.

Key technologies that will allow us to enter the metaverse include virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. At some point, you will be able to switch between worlds very easily and, depending on the use and purpose, choose whether to digitally supplement your world, switch completely over to the metaverse, or even be completely in your real world.

The more complex and demanding the task, the more likely it is to make use of digitally supplemented content. Technologies such as AI, IOT and 5G will also play a major role in this context, as they will expand and improve the usage scenarios in the metaverse many times over. Already today, the metaverse complements our physical world with open virtual spaces as well as spaces not accessible to everyone. You can enter this digital, social reality with avatars that represent the people. In this new digital reality, “metaverse” business models are emerging. Virtual images of countless things and objects are created, which gradually develop their own dynamics through the linking of data. In the metaverse, we can communicate, work, learn, store, acquire possessions, attend parties, view art objects, and much more that we know from the physical world. The peculiarity lies in the fact that the Metaverse, without loss of time and travel costs, is accessible to all people worldwide, similar to the Internet. So much of what we may miss in the real world or cannot experience due to crises, pandemics, diseases, social or cultural restrictions can be experienced in the digital world and takes on completely different dimensions than live experiences due to diverse possibilities and ever-improving technological means and gadgets (VR headsets, haptic suits, chips, cloud services, bandwidth, etc.). This creates new experiences, as has been observed millions of times with players of Fortnite, Pokémon Go, or World of Warcraft, for example.

At present, the Metaverse is largely still entered in 2D, via the computer screen, tablet or smartphone. Immersive technologies such as VR, AR and MR enable deeper, more comprehensive and more immersive immersion in this digital parallel world. Due to the fact that the metaverse offers everyone the chance to participate, new status symbols and investment opportunities have already emerged in the course of the change in values. While yesterday it was the trend to wear the new Rolex at the film premiere in Cannes, today it is prestige to acquire and own a virtual digital watch and to show it off on Insta and in virtual worlds.

Investments in virtual real estate, land parcels, music projects, art, fashion items, etc. are enabled by cryptocurrencies and NFTs (digital certificates of authenticity). Millions have already been invested by private individuals and companies in 2021. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia already remarked in a conference call of his company that he is pretty sure that the metaverse will be a new economy that is bigger than our current economy. The global economy passed the $80 trillion mark last year. In the future, the metaverse will influence and change every industry to an extent that we cannot even estimate today.