🕛 A world which is always on

Siemens making big moves in the industrial metaverse

GM, GM!

You know how we break down the Web3 use cases every week in 4.3 minutes:

  • 😰 The challenge

  • 💡 The solution

  • 👀 Take away for other industries

I’m back from the holidays and today we are taking a deep dive at the fusion of real and virtual worlds.

😰 The challenge

But no, we won’t check out Zucks new Horizon features.

We won’t talk about

  • gaming

  • hanging around

  • shopping

  • buying virtual land

Because these are the already known use cases and everyone is talking about them.

In my opinion, they are so boring and useless.

Why should I play all day and hang around in a virtual world when I can enjoy nature?

But maybe that is just my opinion. 🙃

💡 The solution

Connecting the physical and virtual worlds makes sense when you can optimize processes or create new features for products.

And Siemens thinks so, too. They are at the forefront of the industrial metaverse.

The industrial metaverse is like a super-connected world that's always on. It's a place where real machines, factories, buildings, cities, and transportation systems exist virtually.

This idea is really important for a couple of key reasons:

Imagine a digital space where problems can be

  • spotted,

  • understood, and

  • fixed rapidly

even before they become a big issue.

And the coolest part is that all of this happens in a world where people can work together in amazing new ways. They can work together even when they're far apart, as if they're all in the same room right next to the machines or things they're working on.

This kind of setup makes it super easy for everyone to test out new ideas fast and easily, which leads to lot of innovation.

The metaverse isn't just about imagining things – it's a place where virtual reality helps people who are doing hands-on work in real places.

It's like a digital world where you can travel back in time, or even into the future, to better understand problems and processes so you can find the best solutions.

And by doing this virtually and connecting real live assets to the digital world, you can accelerate sustainability in your organization.

Siemens is heavily involved in the industrial metaverse. Just a few weeks ago, they announced to invest €500 million to create a blueprint for it in Germany.

👀 Take away for other industries

So what does all this mean for your business?

The first thing you need to understand is that we are not just talking about digital worlds, we are talking about the connection between virtual reality and the physical world.

This means a constant flow of data in both directions between your machine and its virtual representation - the digital twin.

The digital twin is a key enabler of the industrial metaverse.

Your first step should be to familiarize yourself with the concepts of digital twins.

You need to set up a proper architecture to make (any) data available.

For a deep dive I recommend these articles from my former employer, where we built DTs for several industries: 1 & 2. Here you can see, that most of the time you have more than one digital twin.

Or you check out this research paper by the inventor of the digital twin Michael Grieves.

And only after you have done that groundwork can you really get started with the industrial metaverse.

For further reading Siemens has a great report with the MIT on the industrial metaverse here.

👉 So remember:

The virtual reality exists only digitally - no connection to physical assets.

The industrial metaverse connects physical assets to virtual environments - in (near) real time

What are your thoughts about the industrial metaverse, virtual realities and all the stuff?

From time to time I get scared, but it is fascinating at the same time.

I definitely won’t my kids grow up in a “Ready Player One”-like world, but I can see clearly the benefits of what virtual realities can offer.

It’s a double-edged sword…

Have a great day! ☀️

See you next week!

Florian

Oh and btw:
My friend Diego Borgo has a new Newsletter.
If you haven’t subscribed yet, you should do this immediately! 😉

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