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Europe Metaverse News

The European Commission said the technologies of extended reality, XR, including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality, will create around 860,000 jobs in Europe by 2025.&nbsp;



This prediction came in a factsheet that gives an overview of Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0 and the numerous possibilities it can hold for citizens and businesses in the EU.&nbsp;



The European Commission&#8217;s factsheet expected that the estimated growth of the global virtual worlds market would hit €800 billion in 2025, compared to €27 billion in 2022. It pointed out that the virtual worlds would have a significant impact on employment as it would create another 1.2 million to 2.4 million direct and indirect jobs in other sectors by 2025.



The paper detailed what sectors the virtual worlds would affect positively; health, education, industry, green transition, art, and design. For example, the industrial virtual worlds will reduce vehicle delivery time by 60% and the carbon footprint of vehicle manufacturing by 50% in 2025.



The commission noted that the most of innovations related to the metaverse are focused in the United States, China, and South Korea.&nbsp;



&#8220;Contrary to these countries, in the EU there are no tech giants to lead the investment in the development of virtual worlds over the next decade,&#8221; the paper added.&nbsp;



It is worth mentioning that the European Commission adopted a strong strategy for Web 4.0 and the virtual worlds, aka metaverse, to ensure an open, secure, trustworthy, fair, and inclusive digital environment for EU citizens, businesses, and public administrations.



In a press release, the European Commission said the new strategy comes in line with the current development of Web3 whose main features are openness, decentralization, and user full empowerment, pointing out that the next generation, Web 4.0, will enhance the integration between digital and real objects and environments and interactions between humans and machines.



The EU Commission showed its commitment to supporting creators and media companies in the EU region to test new creation tools, bring together developers and industrial users, and work with Member States to develop regulatory sandboxes for Web 4.0 and virtual worlds.

European Commission

Metaverse

European Commission Expects XR To Create 860,000 Jobs by 2025

The European Commission adopted a strong strategy for Web 4.0 and the virtual worlds, aka metaverse, to ensure an open, secure, trustworthy, fair, inclusive digital environment, and <a href="https://upyo.com/en/news/tags/europe-metaverse">metaverse for EU</a> citizens, businesses, and public administrations.



In a press release, the European Commission said the new strategy comes in line with the current development of Web3 whose main features are openness, decentralization, and user full empowerment, pointing out that the next generation, Web 4.0, will enhance the integration between digital and real objects and environments and interactions between humans and machines.



The European Commission noted that its new strategy is consistent with the 2030 objectives of the Digital Decade policy program and three of its key pillars of digitalization: skills, business, and public services in addition to addressing openness and global governance of virtual worlds and Web 4.0 as a specific strands of action.



The EU Commission showed its commitment to supporting creators and media companies in the EU region to test new creation tools, bring together developers and industrial users, and work with Member States to develop regulatory sandboxes for Web 4.0 and virtual worlds.



In this regard, Executive Vice-President for Europe Fit for the Digital Age Margrethe Vestager said: &#8220;The Web 4.0 and virtual worlds will bring benefits for health, contribute to the green transition and better anticipate natural disasters. But we need to have people at the center and shape it according to our EU digital rights and principles, to address the risks regarding privacy or disinformation. We want to make sure Web 4.0 becomes an open, secure, trustworthy, fair, and inclusive digital environment for all.&#8221;



The commission also added that it would work with internet governance stakeholders around the world and promote Web 4.0 standards in line with the EU&#8217;s vision and values.

European Union Flags

Web3

European Commission Adopts Strategy for Web 4.0, Virtual Worlds

The European Commission is expected to issue a draft law on promoting the digital euro and develop its metaverse strategy in May, a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=SEC(2023)2443&amp;lang=en" rel="noreferrer noopener">document published on the commission&#8217;s website revealed on Monday</a>.



At the time that the European Central Bank did not decide to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the commission pointed out that new laws needed to be issued to enhance the CBDC&#8217;s legal status and set anti-money laundering regulations, Coin Desk reported.&nbsp;



Mairead McGuinness, the European Union&#8217;s financial services commissioner, told lawmakers on the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee Tuesday asserted the importance that Europe should not be in rush to take action now, but it is better to do something in the coming five or ten years.&nbsp;



McGuinness added that by the issue of the bill on May 24, the European Union member states are free to determine the use cases of the digital euro and the technology which will be used. However, lawmakers appeared doubtful about McGuinness&#8217;s remarks on the digital euro, asking about its feasibility from the point of view of the consumer.&nbsp;



Moreover, lawmakers in the European Parliament proposed imposing taxes on crypto assets to fund the European Union&#8217;s annual budget, which is worth 170 billion euros ($185 billion). The lawmakers presented a draft report to the parliament&#8217;s budget committee that include options of imposing taxes on investors’ capital gains, transactions, or mining.



The lawmakers believe that regulating and taxing crypto assets at the EU level is more efficient than at the national level, given their high mobility and cross-border dimension. They still have a chance till February 2 to propose changes in the report, however, the EU parliament has limited control over tax laws.&nbsp;

Digital euro

Crypto

European Commission to Issue Bill on Regulating Digital Euro, Metaverse Strategy in May

Binance, the world&#8217;s largest crypto exchange platform, collaborated with the University of Nicosia in offering free metaverse courses.&nbsp;



Under the partnership announced by Binance Charity, the philanthropic arm of Binance, and the Institute for the Future (IFF) of the university, Binance will offer five full scholarships for students from Cyprus and Greece. The students will learn the world’s leading graduate program in the field to obtain a master of science degree in blockchain and Digital Currency from the university.&nbsp;



Moreover, the partnership includes offering free metaverse-based courses, but learners are required to possess an NFT. The students, who would like to get a certification after completing the course, should pay a small fee to receive an NFT certificate minted on the Ethereum blockchain. The course will be delivered on the blockchain and in the metaverse.



The university said more than 14,000 students registered for attending the online 12-week course “NFTs and the Metaverse.” Web 3.0 entrepreneurs, pioneering NFT creators and collectors, and investors will deliver lectures during the course.&nbsp;



Commenting on the partnership, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted that the world is moving forward.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">University of Nicosia in Cyprus 🇨🇾 offers courses in the meta verse, and you must have an NFT to attend. Binance offers scholarships with this university. The world is moving forward. <a href="https://t.co/aDhCu7cIS8">pic.twitter.com/aDhCu7cIS8</a>&mdash; CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) <a href="https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1597351154438094848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Head of Binance Charity Helen Hai said the interest in blockchain increased over the past years, however academic institutions were taking slow steps in covering the needs of this area.&nbsp;



The students will learn modules in law and regulation in blockchain, digital currency, principles of money, banking and finance, and entrepreneurship management in addition to blockchain systems and architectures with a focus on existing and emerging crypto applications, such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and asset tokenization.&nbsp;



It is not the first time that Binance did something in favor of crypto and blockchain education. Earlier this month, it announced offering free courses online to educate crypto users on cryptocurrency, blockchain, Web 3, and the metaverse.



Through Binance Academy, the courses come under the title of “Binance Learn &amp; Earn.” Binance and non-Binance users can complete the courses. But it is free of charge for Binance users,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://bitcoinist.com/binance-launches-free-crypto-courses-and-provides/" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to Bitcoinist</a>.



The Beginner Track consists of courses, which are covering the fundamentals of the crypto world and blockchain, decentralization, Web 3.0 and metaverse, and trading and investment strategies. The intermediate and advanced levels will be available in the future.

Binance and University of Nicosia

Blockchain

Binance Collaborates with University of Nicosia to Offer Metaverse-based Courses

In a move to limit the environmental cost of traveling, the European Space Agency (ESA) developed a virtual environment to enable its staff to attend discussions at the UN climate conference, COP27, held in Egypt&#8217;s Sharm El-Sheikh.



Connected to the Internet and satellite 5G, hundreds of ESA staff created their avatars in the virtual world and accessed the metaverse via their laptops or smartphones or by wearing virtual reality headsets, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/ESA_experiences_COP27_using_a_space-empowered_metaverse" target="_blank">ESA said in a statement</a> on Tuesday. 



Located at the agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications in the UK, engineers at ESA’s 5G/6G Hub connected the staff to the metaverse using futuristic technologies.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://adminblog.upyo.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESA-Staff-Experience-COP27-via-Metaverse-1024x577.png" alt="" class="wp-image-2561" width="705" height="397" srcset="https://3.111.63.208/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESA-Staff-Experience-COP27-via-Metaverse-1024x577.png 1024w, https://3.111.63.208/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESA-Staff-Experience-COP27-via-Metaverse-300x169.png 300w, https://3.111.63.208/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESA-Staff-Experience-COP27-via-Metaverse-768x433.png 768w, https://3.111.63.208/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESA-Staff-Experience-COP27-via-Metaverse-1536x866.png 1536w, https://3.111.63.208/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ESA-Staff-Experience-COP27-via-Metaverse.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 705px) 100vw, 705px" /></figure>



The staff tackled topics related to climate change crisis, space, green transition, and sustainable 6G connectivity.



ESA&#8217;s move comes within its framework to enhance European leadership in the development and deployment of metaverse technology.



A metaverse is a network of three-dimensional virtual environments focusing on social interaction. It may be characterized as a digitally simulated world. It utilizes blockchain, augmented reality, and virtual reality (VR), combined with social media principles, to develop venues for extensive user communication that imitate the real world.



The metaverse is an encompassing word for technologies that aid in creating a whole digital world similar to the real one. This universe can be incredibly comprehensive and encompass a broad range of various planets, sometimes referred to as virtual environments.

Europe Metaverse News

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