Javier Escudero Cuevas, a journalist from Emprendedores.es, interviewed our CEO, Luis Villarejo, as an expert in the educational activity of the metaverse, in the article Which businesses are going to be more profitable in the metaverse?” which was published on 01/6/2022 in the digital magazine Emprendedores.es in the Management section.
The metaverse is a Virtual Reality world, where people interact in an artificial environment, thanks to technology. The technological barrier was the main obstacle to the full metaverse development, but the democratization of technology has made it easier for companies to start taking an interest in it. The metaverse is a 3D virtual world with digital avatars, where users can work, play and socialize.
The most direct market in the metaverse is entertainment in its broadest sense, but others such as training and education, tourism, sports, blockchain or software development, among others, will host great business options.
INTERVIEW
In the interview various topics are discussed, such as the democratization of technology, the relationship of video games with virtual reality, direct communication and other topics related to the metaverse. Here are some fragments from the interview.
VIDEOGAMES AND VIRTUAL REALITY
Until now, one of the main engines of virtual reality industry has been video games. Villarejo affirms, “there is a very large community of virtual reality users thanks to this industry and the fact that end users have had access to virtual reality glasses in recent years at a much lower price (around 350 euros), while a few years ago you had to invest around 2,000 euros to be able to access virtual reality”.
“Other initiatives that have been generated have grouped people around them and generated communities that promote different sectors such as training, tourism, culture… For example, from Immersium Studio (spinoff of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), we are dedicated to training in virtual reality and we are well acquainted with educational activity in the metaverse. Thus, in training, there is the Immersive Learning Research Network, a community that brings together thousands of educators, researchers and developers who research and work to create the next generation of training experiences in a metaverse that transfers you to relevant contexts for your training without the need for move from home ”, emphasizes Villarejo.
FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE
For example, recalls this expert, in 2020 “given the need to train health professionals in European ICUs, from Immersium Studio we generated a training experience in the metaverse to train health professionals from all over Europe in ICU skills with no previous experience. We managed to train 20,000 professionals who, through virtual reality glasses, immerse themselves inside virtual ICUs, in which two patients must be integrated into the medical care team. One with severe Covid and one with mild Covid. Deal with different situations, based on real experiences, in which they have to make decisions and are shown the consequences of those decisions. Thus, professionals are trained and gain confidence to help in case of need”.
You can read the full article here.
