Transcript 0:00 [gentle music] The only way we are going to achieve big success with the metaverse is if we have an open ecosystem. Open ecosystems are always critical. This is the call to technology providers. 0:15 We need to be able to connect everything together in order to make this work and to make it work well. 0:32 [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, your voice for our connected world, with your host, Peggy Smedley. Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. 0:44 I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. This month on The Peggy Smedley Show, I'm going to be doing a midyear check about how different vertical markets are implementing technology in 2022. 0:56 For today's segment, I thought I would do something a little bit different. 1:00 I thought I would talk all about one emerging technology and how it could potentially impact all industries in this month and even this kind of coming years to come. 1:12 And one of the hottest emerging technologies that everybody is talking about, now best you... bet you can guess, is the metaverse. It is an ambiguous term that means different things to different people. 1:25 So I thought for this first segment I would break down, uh, like a learn jour- like I learned in journalism school [laughs] like I like to say. 1:33 So today, let's walk through the who, the what, the when, the where, the why, and the how of the metaverse. So look, you just learned a bunch of things about journalism. 1:44 So make sure to stick around for this first segment. I think you'll enjoy it. But before we get started, let's talk about who we're gonna be interviewing today. 1:52 I'll be talking to Liz Martin-Melikian, who is the CEO and executive director of the Cosanti Foundation, and we're gonna have a great conversation. 2:02 And then I'm gonna wrap up the show talking with an old friend I've known for a very long time, vice president of research on manufacturing and operations at Tech-Clarity. So stick around. 2:14 Today's gonna be a really wonderful discussions with some really wonderful people. So let's get started. 2:20 Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella, there are quite a few big names who have been in the metaverse headlines this past year. You've all heard them talk about what's going on, and there are... 2:33 is kind of one big name who wants nothing to do with the metaverse, which kind of makes you wonder, right? 2:40 But we'll leave, uh, Elon Musk out of this discussion because he's been in a lot of discussions for a lot of other things. 2:46 But let, let, let me kind of go into more important things, but let me tell you, there's also many conversations happening behind closed doors at many of the large technology companies. 3:00 I have personally spoke with executives at Siemens and Microsoft and others, maybe just to name a few, who, as you can see, their thoughts over, 3:12 I, I guess, on my blogs, if you want, or any of our news items that we have on connectedworld.com that kind of give you a little window into what's going on in, in some of these discussions and what companies are seeing as to the future. 3:25 And there are a lot of other executives who see big potential for the metaverse. So that, I guess, maybe might give you the who of our discussion today. 3:36 So now let's look at what exactly is the metaverse, because I think that's important. 3:41 In that conversation that I had with Siemens, we ultimately all came to the conclusion that the word metaverse is kind of like saying the internet. Now let me explain. 3:54 It is a wide and vast conf- concept that means many different things to different people. So let's break this down just for a minute. 4:05 Meta is the Greek prefix for beyond, across, or after, and the verse is the context, is a shortening of the word universe. 4:16 So quite simpl- simply, when many people refer to a metaverse, they are referring to a simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to create an immersive online experience. 4:36 So some might even say 3D to simulate a model or replicate a model or even an environment. One of the early references to the metaverse was in Neal Stephenson's n- dystopian novel Snow Crash. 4:52 He created a place where characters could use headphones and goggles to enter this new world as an avatar where they can explore and meet other avatars. 5:03 So today, we hear the term metaverse just about everywhere, in books, in movies, in our conversations. So if that is the foundation of what a metaverse is, then we exactly will hit... 5:17 I guess the question is, when will it hit mainstream adoption? So it's already here, right? Maybe not. Or is it still coming? That's the really big question. 5:28 So some predictions suggest the global metaverse market size is projected to be worth $1.6 trillion by 2030. Yeah, that's that T again, a trillion, and that's a lot of money. 5:45 So it's also a big growth curve. It will grow at a rate of more than 50% from now, 2022, until 2030. But, but that's 2030. 5:58 Could we potentially see the metaverse come to industry sooner than that, like maybe this year? 6:05 AB, ABI Research, which I've talked to, says noIt does not believe it will arrive in 2022 or in the typical five-year forecast window. 6:18 It suggests we still need an ability to connect all the diverse pieces that are supposed to make up the metaverse. But I can tell you many of the large tech- technology companies are actively working on this. 6:36 So perhaps metaverse will come sooner than ABI thinks. So now this is kind of challenging to challenge a big analyst firm. 6:45 So when we look at all of this, I for one think this is one time that perha- perhaps ABI might be not seeing the bigger picture for the metaverse. And maybe they are, but they're looking at things a little differently. 6:59 My prediction is the metaverse will be big before twenty thirty, but in a lot of different ways. But it will take some big time w- before we see this widespread adoption. I agree with that. 7:15 So for now, I think we still kind of remain a little bit blurry on what that means. There's a lot that has to be done. So let's move on. Let's go to the W, which is the where. Where will the metaverse take place? 7:31 And that's how the adoption is going to occur because we have to kind of look at the obvious answer is in the digital reality. 7:40 Now, that's what makes it very interesting because I'm actually more curious which industries could potentially widely adopt the metaverse. First and foremost is education. 7:51 We are already seeing education take full advant- full advantage of the metaverse. 7:56 And the reason I say this is because universities are seeing that they can teach remotely and get students up to speed faster on fewer courses such as biology and chemistry and, and show them things that perhaps they never could see before, and now they can teach them and make them feel this immersive experience remotely. 8:17 Beyond a few universities willing to be bold leaders in this space, w- w- there's so much more. So let's talk the real industry movers and metaverse shakers. 8:29 I do think the four big universities and industries, I should say, uh, discussed in this month's Connected World feature, and it's, is... are likely candidates for making the industries and education come together. 8:46 So, like, energy, automotive, buildings, and retail are all ripe for innovation. 8:53 But others that I also think will lead the charge, and we're already seeing it when you look at digital twins and things like that, are manufacturing and construction, healthcare, pharma, ag, and the list can go on and on if you let your imagine, uh, your i- i- imagination, I should say, take you away in where you could go. 9:15 But as often as I like to say, opportunities are endless. It's the creative thinkers that make us go into the metaverse even further. So the final W is the why. So-- and this brings me to my opinion for today. 9:29 Too often, the metaverse might draw up an i- an image of a digital destination where kind of hang out with our... just with our friends. 9:40 But there's a reason why Mark Zuckerberg is betting on the universe, and this is why. There's a huge opportunity to turn traditional social media into something much more interactive. 9:53 But I truly believe the opportunities go much deeper for all businesses. 9:58 It can create a world where we are able to work and collaborate in new and different ways, something we, I think we so desperately need in a post-pandemic era. And I would bet most of you agree with me on that. 10:12 So taking this a step further, we can combine the power of the metaverse with the digital twin and so many other technologies to solve hurdles and with circularity, for instance. And that's just one example. 10:26 We could solve so many big challenges in businesses today. We just have to be a little bit more creative. I love to use the word creative because I think there's so many creative and innovative people out there. 10:39 And we have to be open to new possibilities. And finally, let's talk about the how we are going to do all of this. And this brings me to my tip. 10:49 The only way we are going to achieve big success with the metaverse is if we have an open ecosystem. Open ecosystems are always critical. This is the call to technology providers. 11:03 We need to be able to connect everything together in order to make this work and to make it work well. Now, that's the critical part of this. 11:13 Working together, whether we use a headset or whether we use a tech provider or whether we use the web, we need interoperability and we need connectivity. So we need to work together to make this all happen. 11:28 And sometimes we lose sight of these things because we want to keep everything in our own little world. 11:34 So this is my challenge to the technology companies, many of which I know are already working hard and working behind the scenes to make a lot of this happen. So let's make this all work well together. 11:49 I always like to use the word seamlessly, you know, behind the scenes, because that's the critical part of all of this.I have an Oculus 2 headset in my office, and thanks to Professor Machina Morris, I've been able to enter the Metaverse. 12:04 The Metaverse can open up new opportunities for even those who thought they could not be able to for health reasons. 12:12 My challenge to businesses is to start thinking outside of the box that, so to speak, you know, that proverbial box that we're limited in. 12:21 Steve Grubbs from Victory VR has made it possible for universities to grow and to educate with his technology. So see, in partnership with universities, there's a lot happening there. 12:33 So that is where we will see the Metaverse continue to grow, to c- continue to expand. So I think when we look at all these things, we have to see how are we coming together? How are we leveraging? How are we partnering? 12:47 And I just described a few little partnerships that are making it grow and prosper and expanding from universities to education to industry, and it goes on and on. 12:59 But then by bringing people in who thought they couldn't, we're, we're expanding our universe in ways that now say, "Is it the inter- the internet that we're talking about?" 13:10 That makes us think about the who, the what, the where, the when, the why, the how. There goes my journalism side for all of this. So I want you to think about this is how are you thinking you can use the Metaverse? 13:24 I know people are saying, "Nah, that's a gaming thing. That's..." It's, it's not. 13:28 If you look at it from an entirely different perspective, it might not be the way you think, but it might open new opportunities the way you explore. So if not now, maybe the question should be, then when? 13:44 And that's an intriguing thought process for all of us, and it opens the door for the next round of innovation, which is clearly in the Metaverse. 13:56 So as always, if you have thoughts on what I've talked about today, please tweet to continue this discussion on social media at Connect2World, because I'm very curious about how you see the Metaverse, because it's not just what the Zuckerbergs of the world think or anybody else. 14:15 It's really what you as the next level of innovation think. They're just the ones who start and stoke the fire, so to speak, but it's the next generation of innovators that are gonna change it. 14:26 All right, listeners, I'm out of time for this first s- first segment, but please check out our website at connect2world.com, our show website at thepeggysmedley show.com. 14:36 And make sure to subscribe, uh, to all of our episodes each week. 14:40 I love when you listen to any of the past episodes and, and, and make comments on them, because that's when we get to grow, and I know other things you wanna listen to. So don't go away. 14:49 I'm gonna be right back after this commercial break, talking to some amazing people. As always, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, your voice for our connected world. 14:57 And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. We'll be right back. [outro music]
