元宇宙中的互操作性–简报

The next era of the internet is coming, with the convergence of technologies forging “the metaverse” – an immersive, interoperable and synchronous digital world. Though a standard definition for the metaverse is still under development, experts agree that this new age of the internet will likely disrupt and transform current social and economic structures. From more immersive, empathetic social experiences to increased universal access to services and education, the metaverse presents momentous opportunity but also brings about new challenges.

It is within this context that, in May 2022, the World Economic Forum launched the Defining and Building the Metaverse initiative. The goal of the initiative is to advance consensus among major metaverse stakeholders and contribute to a future metaverse that is economically viable, interoperable, safe, equitable and inclusive. The initiative does so via two tracks: governance and economic and social value creation.

The value creation track looks at the opportunities in consumer, industrial and enterprise metaverses and researches the considerations for access, inclusion, sustainability and well-being that will come with its development.

Meanwhile, the governance track focuses on governance frameworks that may empower stakeholders to lead responsibly within the metaverse while mitigating potential socioeconomic harms. Through consultation with experts from academia, civil society, government and business, the Forum began exploring themes relating to Kevin Collins Managing Director and Global Software and Platforms Lead, Accenture “interoperability”, “privacy, security and safety” and “identity”.

This first briefing paper, written by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Accenture, aims to explain interoperability, which is founded on the ability of data to circulate via interoperable infrastructures, of participants to be able to move themselves, their assets and their creations across platforms and experiences, and of experiences being safeguarded through collaboration and guardrails such as content moderation. For the metaverse to operate seamlessly, it will require varying degrees of interoperability for users to move, create, transact and participate across different platforms and localities.

Overall, the Defining and Building the Metaverse initiative has brought together a global, multi- sector working group of more than 100 experts in academia, civil society, government, technology and business. All insights, frameworks and guidance published in the frame of this initiative are being co-designed and guided by this working group. Multistakeholder discussions on the metaverse play a critical role in catalysing the cross- sector global cooperation that is necessary to design and build a human-first metaverse.

This publication aims to illuminate this topic but does not claim to provide a comprehensive view
of the metaverse. However, it gives a glimpse into the complex issues that can arise when the cyber and physical worlds come together, as well as the role of multistakeholder collaboration in building the metaverse to its true potential.