Sponsored by Siemens, MIT Technology Review Insight’s report, The Emerging Industrial Metaverse, analyzes the emergence and application of the industrial metaverse, future challenges and opportunities, and the impact it will have on businesses and everyday life.

Executive summary

Industrial metacomes – a metacomes domain that maps and simulates real-world machines, factories, cities, transportation networks, and other highly complex systems – are designed to provide participants with fully immersive, real-time, interactive, persistent, and synchronized mappings and simulations of the real world.

Existing and developing technologies, including digital twins, artificial intelligence and machine learning, extended reality, blockchain, cloud, and edge computing, will be the building blocks of the industrial metauniverse. The convergence of these technologies will create a powerful interface connecting the physical and digital worlds, enabling synergies.

The industrial metaverse will revolutionize the way work is done and create significant new value for businesses and society. In the industrial meta-universe, companies can create models and prototypes, test in real time, and achieve dozens, hundreds, or even millions of iterations in an immersive, real-world environment before committing physical and human resources to a project. Industrial meta-cosmic tools will usher in a new era of digital solutions to real-world problems.

3500/92

3500/92

The practical applications of the consumer metacomes are still developing, while the applications of the industrial metacomes are purpose-driven and targeted to solve real-world problems and meet business needs. Industrial metauniverse solutions enable enterprises to optimize resource efficiency and enhance their competitiveness, while helping enterprises continue to achieve sustainability, resilience, decarbonization and dematerialization of important goals related to human prosperity and development.

This report explores what is needed to create an industrial metauniverse, its potential impact on business and society, the challenges ahead, and the innovative applications that will shape the future. This report generates the following key insights:

The industrial metaverse connects the digital and physical worlds. It will enable the continuous exchange of information, data, and decision making, empowering industries to digitally solve extremely complex real-world problems, changing the way organizations operate, and creating enormous societal benefits.
Digital twins are a central component of the meta-universe. The virtual model in the meta-universe is a detailed simulation of the real world. The next generation of digital twins will be highly fidelity, physics-based, powered by artificial intelligence, and interconnected in a meta-cosmic ecosystem.
The industrial metaverse will change every industry. Existing digital twins embody the power and potential of the industrial meta-universe to revolutionize design and engineering, testing, operations, and training.
Daily life will change radically. The industrial metaverse will change the way we experience our physical environment and the way we work, live, make goods, and travel. It will help us solve real problems and move the world towards a more sustainable future.
The key capabilities and ecosystems for building the meta-universe are emerging. These include connectivity, computing power, digital twin fidelity, interoperability, and privacy and security. At the same time, markets, payment systems, and regulatory frameworks must be designed and built for meta-cosmic tools and applications.
Partnerships are crucial. Substantial cross-industry collaboration on standards and infrastructure is necessary to build an industrial metauniverse. Organizations may need to work with vendors, competitors, or customers to build complex technology stacks that lay the groundwork for players to participate in the meta-universe. From established companies to startups, from governments to individual enthusiasts, all kinds of meta-universe players will bring new ideas and voices to the industrial meta-universe.