Vision
The Metaverse will fundamentally innovate areas such as learning, the digital economy, tourism, human interaction, organizational collaboration, etc.
With this belief, the ICI Bucharest team aims to develop the human resource competencies in this dimension and to strengthen the state-of-the-art research infrastructure through studies, projects, and applications.
Context
The Metaverse can be seen as a completely immersive virtual space that blends the physical world with the digital one and integrates a variety of emerging technologies - such as Digital Twins (DT), which produce a digital object mirrored to one in the real world, VR, and augmented reality (AR) that provide an immersive 3D experience.
The evolution of high-speed communications offers connections with very low latency, and wearable sensors and systems based on the brain-computer interface (BCI) allow user-avatar interaction in the Metaverse.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) enables the creation and rendering of the Metaverse on a large scale, and blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) play an important role in managing intellectual property rights and the framework of the Metaverse, identifying and analyzing the most frequently used technologies (AR, VR, XR, MR).
ICI Bucharest Objectives
- Development of an experimentation space in immersive technologies suitable for testing the most innovative ideas in the field.
- Strengthening the concerns for understanding the Metaverse field among the professional community.
- Coagulating the scientific community through the involvement of researchers in the field in joint initiatives.
- Attracting and actively involving stakeholders from public administration, education, the business environment, academia, and social sectors.
- Analyzing the ethical implications and risks posed by the evolution of the field and proposing mitigation solutions.
- Creating new, more attractive learning experiences with the best possible outcomes for users.
Current Concerns
Currently, at ICI Bucharest, the project "Advanced Research in the Metaverse and Emerging Technologies for the Digital Transformation of Society" is underway, with the following highlights:
- Analyzing the state of knowledge in the Metaverse field. Inventorying the newest technologies (AR, VR, XR, MR, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Web3, and Digital Twin).
- Creating a research and experimentation infrastructure for Metaverse technologies.
- Developing a framework for the development of applications using the Metaverse in public services.
- Developing a conceptual Metaverse model for education.
- Creating a curriculum for running a course using the Metaverse and piloting a course module.
- Designing Metaverse implementation strategies in the fields of education and public administration.