The Metaverse motivates the novel integration and deployment of diverse technologies for collaborative spatial computing. Like interactive 3D graphics, augmented and virtual reality, photorealistic content authoring, geospatial systems, end-user content tooling, digital twins, real-time collaboration, physical simulation, online economies, multi-user gaming, and more – at new levels of scale and immersiveness.

With various industry leaders seeking out the potential of the Metaverse, it has become more imperative that the Metaverse is built on a foundation of open standards; this is where The Metaverse Standards Forum steps in.

The Metaverse: The New Frontier for the Expression of Information

Driven to help foster the development of open standards for the Metaverse, the Forum aims to explore what is holding back metaverse deployment. Also, how the work of Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) defining and evolving needed standards may be coordinated and accelerated. 

Bridging the physical and virtual worlds, The Metaverse Standards Forum calls for like-minded standardization and commercial organizations to foster collaboration in the Metaverse and allow this new ecosystem to flourish.

Hosted by the Khronos Group, the activities of the Forum will be directed by the needs and interests of its members and may involve diverse technology domains such as 3D assets and rendering, human interface and interaction paradigms such as AR and VR, user-created content, avatars, identity management, privacy, and financial transactions. 

“The Metaverse Standards Forum is a unique venue for coordination between standards organizations and industry, with a mission to foster the pragmatic and timely standardization that will be essential to an open and inclusive metaverse,” said Neil Trevett Khronos, President.

Vishal Shah, vice president of Metaverse at Meta, one of the founding members, adds: “Building a metaverse for everyone will require an industry-wide focus on common standards. The Metaverse Standards Forum can drive the collaboration needed to make this possible, and Meta is committed to this work. Creators, developers, and companies will benefit from the technologies and experiences made possible by common protocols.” 

The Importance of Adopting Metaverse Standards 

“Technology and standards are the bricks and cement of the metaverse,” said Qi Wang, assistant president and head of the healthcare and cognitive psychology lab at 0xSenses. Therefore, we need to collaborate to unlock the full potential of metaverse experiences. 

Metaverse enabler and provider of crucial technology to the ecosystem, Qualcomm Technologies supports taking a collaborative approach. Hugo Swart, vice president and general manager of XR, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc, said in a press release that he believes in taking an open platform approach and interoperable Metaverse.

Technology and standards are the bricks and cement of the metaverse.

Qi Wang

Adding: “We are thrilled to join the Metaverse Standards Forum to help define standards for the metaverse to flourish with a healthy ecosystem and help creators pioneer innovative experiences that will lead the next generation of immersive technology.”

The Forum will focus on practical, action-based projects such as implementation prototyping, hackathons, plugfests, and open-source tooling to accelerate the testing and adoption of metaverse standards while developing consistent terminology and deployment guidelines.

“Building strange new worlds and boldly go where no one has gone before”, the collaborative industry-led effort was founded by those invested in accelerating the development and adoption of interoperability standards. 

 Marc Petit, vice president of Unreal Engine ecosystem at Epic Games. “Our goal is to build an open metaverse that enriches humanity and is home to a thriving, fair ecosystem with millions of creators.”

As we enter a new era of spatial computing and mixed holographic reality, some of the founding members e Adobe, Alibaba, Epic Games, Huawei, IKEA, Meta, Microsoft, Qualcomm Technologies, Sony Interactive Entertainment, the Web3D Consortium and the World Wide Web Consortium; the Metaverse Standards membership is free, and it is open to any organization. All it takes is a simple click-through Participant Agreement. In addition, the companies that wish to provide Forum oversight, and may want to fund Forum projects, can choose to become a Principal member.

“Adobe is excited to join the Metaverse Standards Forum,” said Stefano Corazza, vice president and a fellow of AR at Adobe. “It is in our history to contribute to the industry by defining foundational standards for digital experiences.

Martin Enthed, innovation manager at IKEA Marketing & Communication AB, adds: “IKEA is looking forward to this Metaverse Standards Forum as we believe that the way to democratize Metaverse and spatial computing is to have many open standards that work well together.;”

Forum meetings are expected to start in July 2022.

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