Today, on 8th December, we had a chance to co-host a very interesting thought-leadership discussion in cooperation with Meta and Visit Estonia. We gathered for the Future Technology Talks, focusing on the Metaverse and how it can be leveraged in business, taking a deeper look at the tourism sector.
While AI seems to be stealing a lot of headlines, there is another revolution happening at the same time. If you can think of the impact that social media had on our lives—the way we communicate, work, advertise, share, buy, and learn—then think of the Metaverse as social media on steroids. It’s a more immersive, 3D interactive experience that can bring people from all over the world together in a single cyberspace. The Metaverse is not a single thing. It’s not a piece of hardware, software, a website, or a single service. Nor is it run by any single company or government. It’s an entire infrastructure that can most probably be compared with THE INTERNET.
What will this new internet look like? Who will be the key players? What new businesses, services, and experiences will emerge? How will the data be protected? Which countries and industries will lead the way? This is what we gathered to find out together with our distinguished experts and speakers: AmCham President Megan Riley, Head of Estonian Tourism Board Rainer Aavik, Regional Public Policy Lead of Meta Vitnija Saldava, and the business expert panelists – Rein Zobel from Maru VR Productions, Egle Rääsk from Blueray, Ott Sarapuu from PROTO avastustehas, and Külli Kramer from the Estonian Ministry Of Economic Affairs And Communications.
We thank the moderator, Michael Burich from MindSpa, for moderating, and the Fotografiska team for hosting. It was a fascinating discussion, and it was amazing to hear from our panelists about all the VR projects that they have already successfully implemented in their businesses. Everyone agreed that we need to talk about the Metaverse and Immersive Technologies now so that we are fully prepared as businesses and individuals for the future.