Background and Context

In its July 2023 communication on virtual worlds, the EC established the foundations for development of strategies and actions to address the unprecedented opportunities for the next generation of the Web to contribute to European economic growth and societal developments. The Communication emphasizes the EU’s Single Market which is rich and diverse in culture, creative content and talents, strong industrial base, excellence in research, innovation and education, and a robust legislative framework. Together these elements will ensure Europe’s leadership, competitiveness and technological sovereignty in the virtual worlds industry.

Many Opportunities

In the 2024 Annual Union Work Programme for European Standardisation, the EC recognizes that the scope of virtual worlds technologies and businesses is vast; it ranges from better health services, more engaging education and training, new entertainment experiences, new forms of interaction and collaboration among people, to enriching, immersive cultural experiences. It also promises to improve efficiencies of many complex European industries by providing the ability to increase safety and effectiveness of employees, while cutting costs, of simulation, professional training, operations, maintenance, inspection and customer support (without need for experts to be on site). 

Potential Risks

Seeking many potential benefits through virtual worlds is not without risks or side effects. The development of the internet, the Web and social medial strongly suggests that, if not protected or managed, virtual world technologies could infringe on fundamental citizen rights in many ways: diminish the ability to control or prevent breeches of personal data privacy, perpetuate cybercrimes and discrimination, spread of disinformation, and many other negative consequences. 

Interoperability Standards are Important to European Virtual Worlds

In order to mitigate the risks, the Commission’s 2024 Annual Union Work Programme for European Standardisation invests in, and prioritizes the adoption of open and distributed technologies based on consensus-based standards that enable interoperability between virtual world technologies, platforms and networks, and protecting the freedom of choice for users. Standards are also essential to levelling the playing field for innovators in European companies of all sizes, and avoiding dominance by any geographic region or companies with existing technology silos. By establishing clear and precise virtual world interoperability standards and governance policies, and encouraging (or enforcing) their adoption across the European Single Market, the ecosystem of virtual world businesses will receive investments and encourage innovation and specialization. Through innovation and specialization, using and built upon standards, it is less likely that virtual worlds will suffer the many potential business and societal risks prevalent in digital activities today, while at the same time flourishing and diversifying to meet and exceed the many needs of European citizens. 

Prior to investing in development and driving adoption of standards that reflect the Commission’s virtual world strategies and objectives, a rigorous gap analysis has been performed and published by ETSI.