The metaverse has been one of the great milestones of 2021. Mark Zuckerberg has even changed the name of Facebook to Meta and wants this to be the main space for people to interact through their avatars. Now it seems that everyone talks about the metaverse and those who can jump on the bandwagon do so without thinking twice. The last has been the Catalan Government, which launched this Monday your cats project so that companies, creators and citizens can use this metaverse to communicate or to establish working relationships.
The project has been developed by the Blockchain Center of Catalonia and has come amid controversy. In the first place, because it is “a step towards a digital republic”, as the Vice President of the Government, Jordi Puigneró, said. It will not only be a Catalan metaverse developed in Catalonia, he continued, and inspired by Catalan culture, “but also the vehicular language will be Catalan. (…) The survival of our language goes through its use in the new virtual world“, he stressed.
Beyond the political issues and economic of the Catalan metaverse, the goal is to convert This space in a tool for promote communication between creators, companies and universities. From making presentations to engaging in business conversations. For now, the platform is free but Catvers will be paid at the end of February. The rates have not yet been specified by the promoters.
The Catalan metaverse, one more on the list
Catalonia has tried to convert its metaverse into a business tool, but it is not the only government that has opted to join this virtual world. Barbados announced in November that will open an embassy in the metaverse, within its agreement with Decentraland, one of the best-known spaces.
In this case, the micro-state government wants the platform to work with its international partners. “To deepen their relations in the diplomatic arena. As well as in investments, business, tourism, the cultural industry and interactions between people,” he said in a statement.
The Barbados ambassador to the United Arab Emirates said in a interview with Coindesk that one of the advantages of the embassy in the metaverse is that air travel can be avoided, which is an environmental advantage. Also that many companies can have an immersive experience to see what services Barbados offers at a business level. In November, the government highlighted that for the launch of its virtual embassy they had hired legal counsel because their embassy in the metaverse creates unique precedents.
For its part, the government of Seoul, in South Korea, announced that it wants to join the metaverse to “start providing a new concept of public service by using the platform in their administration”. Through Metaverse Seoul, they want to cover all areas of the administration, such as tourism, education or economy. In addition, they want to offer services such as access to the virtual office of the mayor or consultations with avatars of officials.
The Metaverse Seoul plan includes five stages, which would end with the full establishment of the project between 2025 and 2026. For its own metaverse, the local government announced a investment of about 3.3 million dollars. In the case of the Catalan metaverse, the Government announced a budget item of 400,000 euros for the Blockchain Center of Catalonia, although for the Catalan metaverse they have invested between 10,000 and 20,000 euros, depending on the center.
The metaverse may not be the priority
David Cierco, executive director of Alianza Digital 2030, said that governments currently have to ride this digital wave if they do not want to stay old and old. In interview with hypertextual, Cierco explained that the metaverse draws a lot of attention these days, but that it is still at an early development level. This means that it is not one of the current priorities with regard to digitization.
“We have problems with digital transformation of SMEs and the administration has been digitized to a great extent but has to innovate in the products and services it offers. At the company level, there is a deficit of technology companies, and startups are becoming very dynamic, but there is still a lot to do,” he explained. The advances do not have to come in that order, he clarified, but without all these points being met, it is difficult move along.
On the other hand, technologies as novel as the metaverse are beginning to have an impact on society, within an already existing presence of virtual worlds. However, it is a option that remains a minority. “The costs of participating in a metaverse are also high, at least if you want the deep dive that Facebook claims,” added David Cierco.
That does not mean that governments should not be involved in this conversation and have a presence in certain settings. Get inside the country brand positioningCierco said, but in the case of the metaverse with a very low impact in an advance of the wave of digitization.
“They are incursions that fall into the anecdotal but it is not bad to have one foot in the future as long as you build it from the present. In the present there are many things to do and the metaverse will be a reality 5 years from now in some way “.
David Cierco
Security remains a challenge
Another challenge may also be security in the metaverse, especially if it is a platform that would serve as a public service for citizens. In this context, there are aspects that are not yet regulated or that are directly unknown. “I think it is a little early to dump the activity of an administration in the metaverse“, settled the executive director of Alianza Digital 2030.
In this sense, the first challenges regarding the security of the metaverse have already come to light in the case of Meta, although these are the same as those that Facebook has previously suffered. An article of New York Times exposed several cases of sexual harassment in the metaverse and the inaction of the platform.
In this regard, the expert lawyer in digital rights Sergio Carrasco commented to hypertextual in a previous article that harassment in the metaverse reminds us of the already well-known problem; that of cHow to stop harassment, discrimination and hate speech on social networks. “What changes is the face that the user sees, not what is behind (…) The fact that it is metaverses, or other cases such as augmented or virtual reality, does not change what is the background of the matter,” he explained.
A first contact of the Catalan metaverse
The Catalan metaverse initiative is a response to an economic system that has suffered from shortcomings during the pandemic. This is how Mònica Roca, president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, explained the need to make this system more resilient and sustainable. “We have to understand that this goes beyond opening a e-commerce or a network profile”, he stated at the press conference to present Catvers.
Accelerating the digitalization process of companies is one of the priorities. But doing it through the Catalan metaverse still has more than one loose thread. The official presentation of Catvers hinted that it was just a first contact with this space which still has a lot to develop. Even so, some users who have already tried Catvers have doubts about its effectiveness in the future.
The Catalan government has launched a beta version of the platform with the aim of gradually developing it; Y is self-managed through the rates that companies or universities that want to be part of the Catalan metaverse will have to pay. The current state of Catvers shows that there is still a lot to be done so that paying to enter the Catalan metaverse is beneficial for institutions or companies.
‘It’s very green’
“I think the project is very green. It’s just a very simple page and in Englishs”, commented a user in a forum in which several people tested the platform. “As a summary of my opinion, the problem is that their reason for being is not clear. And much less what will they spend 400,000 euros on if they use a free platform,” another user wrote.
The governments that have opted to create their metaverse see an opportunity in these spaces. Experts point out that in 5 years, the metaverse will have been adopted by practically everyone and that it will have both economic, social and business benefits. The how to carry out this strategy It still has a lot of loose fringes. And in the same way that the Catalan metaverse is very green, so are the current plans in which resources are invested for a goal that is still abstract.