European Commission presents EU vision on Web 4.0 and virtual worlds

Following months of constant policy buzz and media frenzy around possible EU initiatives on the topic of the “metaverse”, on 11 July 2023 the Commission finally presented its Communication on “Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds”. This sets out the EU’s vision and strategy on Web 4.0 and virtual worlds: it introduces new terminology, underlines the economic and social potential of Web 4.0 and virtual worlds and lays out key actions to harness the potential of this new technological transition.

New terminology

In September 2022, the Commission announced the development of an initiative on “virtual worlds, such as metaverse”, with the aim to become the world’s pioneer in regulating metaverses and related technologies. However, the following months of discussions with stakeholders from academia, civil society and businesses have led the Commission to abandon the concept of “metaverse” in favour of “virtual worlds”, pairing it with the neologism “Web 4.0”.

In particular, the Communication introduces the two key definitions:

• Virtual worlds are persistent, immersive environments based on technologies including 3D and extended reality (XR), which make it possible to blend physical and digital worlds in real time for a variety of purposes such as designing, making simulations, collaborating, learning, socialising, carrying out transactions or providing entertainment.
• Web 4.0 is the expected fourth generation of the World Wide Web. Using advanced artificial and ambient intelligence, the internet of things, trusted blockchain transactions, virtual worlds and XR capabilities, digital and real objects and environments are fully integrated and communicate with each other, enabling truly intuitive, immersive experiences, seamlessly blending the physical and digital worlds.

Key objectives & actions

The Communication is based on four pillars, namely:

1. Supporting people & reinforcing their skills;
2. Fostering a European Web 4.0 industrial ecosystem;
3. Ensuring societal progress & virtual public services;
4. Setting up the structures for the EU to steer the openness of virtual worlds.

The text outlines a risk that big tech companies will develop a closed ecosystem by setting de facto standards and that “they may become future gatekeepers of virtual worlds by exploiting network effects,” the phenomenon whereby a service becomes more attractive due to its growing user base. For this reason, the Commission wants to safeguard the future “Web 4.0” against this.

In this regard, while stopping short of proposing concrete legislation, the Communication lists key action points structured around the 4 pillars of the strategy. Specifically, the Commission calls for, amongst others:

• The development of standards for open and interoperable virtual worlds and support for the open-source community.
• The development of skills for virtual world technologies;
• The development of a Virtual World Toolbox for the general public;
• The development of a toolbox against counterfeiting;
• The launch of a new European Partnership to promote collaboration among virtual worlds hubs and between developers and users;
• The development of regulatory sandboxes for virtual worlds;
• The launch of an expert group with national representatives to share best practices on Web 4.0.

Socio-economic aspects

The Communication predicts that applications of virtual worlds will enable intelligent, resilient and connected operations with new digital processes and digital models that are more efficient, cheaper and more sustainable than current industrial processes.

As regards market forecasts, the Commission estimates that the global market of virtual worlds will grow from €27 billion in 2022 to €800 billion by 2030, forecasting the creation of 860,000 new jobs related to extended reality (XR) in Europe by 2025.

Such an increase in economic benefits would translate into better health services, more engaging education and training, new forms of interaction and collaboration among people, or immersive cultural experiences, according to the Commission.

Next steps

The Communication is a non-legislative initiative. It has been sent to the European Parliament and the Council for consideration. The Parliament can respond with its own Resolution, while the Council can respond with Council Conclusions.

In this regard, the Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee published a draft own-initiative Report on the topic of “virtual worlds” on 4 August 2023. The document notably calls on the Commission to publish regular ‘fitness checks’ to monitor the development of virtual worlds. The Report is expected to be voted in plenary in January 2024.

In parallel, the Commission is expected to further discuss the Communication with industry stakeholders during an upcoming session of the Virtual and Augmented Reality Industrial Coalition (VR-AR Industrial Coalition) to be held on 15 September 2023, following a first discussion with the Coalition on 13 July 2023.

For more information contact Paolo Sasdelli

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