Can a ‘European Metaverse’ Outperform US and China?

European businesses are welcoming the metaverse to beat the US and UK big tech companies

It is quite evident that the metaverse offers the biggest opportunity for success and development for modern businesses since the creation of the internet. The metaverse is well-renowned for being the next revolution of digital partners and the successor of traditional mobile internet. This new emerging platform is becoming important because it offers a new way for businesses to communicate and collaborate with users from anywhere in the world. Major big tech companies based in the UK and US are jumping on the metaverse bandwagon to realize the immersive benefits that this evolving platform has to offer. This new virtual reality platform will allow users to be anywhere and with anyone in a realistic setting. These benefits can lead companies to gain better perspectives on engaging with customers and make collaborations easier with partners.

Most global big tech companies are increasing their metaverse funding strategies to adopt the concept of shared worlds driven by virtual products and digital experiences that are highly immersive and interactive. In fact, tech startups around the world have included metaverse as a crucial part of business promotion and conducting operations. Unfortunately, among all the countries marching towards developing their businesses, Europe has been lagging behind. Recent initiatives by the EU might turn this situation around. Tech experts claim that EU policies should change and instead should encourage the continued health and development of the ecosystem. Presently, recent reports suggest that European businesses, investors, and the talent pool residing in European countries are realizing the metaverse domain. Some of the political heavyweights of the EU are also making moves in this domain.

The European Metaverse Might be the Grandest of all Metaverse Initiatives

French President Emmanuel Macron aspires to build a European metaverse to challenge the US and Chinese tech giants. Meanwhile, the EU's digital leader, Margrethe Vestager has been pushing for the implementation of the big tech antitrust regulation. But these dreams are far from reality. Until now, no European big tech players have been focused on realizing the benefits of the metaverse. EU executives claim that the domain is mostly dominated by large US and Asian entities. Big tech companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Apple are landing the biggest roles in this virtual reality platform, whereas, Roblox and Decentraland already offer proto-metaverse platforms. Other Asian companies like Bytedance, Huawei, and The Sandbox have also established their foothold in the metaverse.

So, can Europe improve its metaverse funding challenges?

Europe has never been open to avant-garde technologies like the metaverse. EU grants have always been focused on supporting scaling, besides, applying for them is immensely time-consuming and the financing was also limited. Europe's funding strategy can be efficiently used if the companies focus on edge networks since other major tech companies like Meta and Decentraland have already been here for quite a long time. The experts working in these companies can provide funding advice on working with bigger platforms.

Entering into the metaverse will benefit all Europeans. Its national markets should focus more on digital transformation to contribute fairly to the profits of its citizens via providing world-class goods, services, and infrastructure. Accompanied by the European service providers, EU officials are pushing to introduce the 'senders-pay' principle. These initiatives are anticipated to be implemented by the beginning of 2023, empowering European businesses to jumpstart their organizational growth and success journey.