BrazilIndustrial Metaverse to lift Industry 4.0 to the next level
The ‘Industrial Metaverse’ (or metaverse applications for industry) offers enormous potential value, enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving overall quality. It is expected to become a market worth around $400 billion by 2030.
The metaverse is often associated with Facebook, gaming, or retail applications. But arguably the most important role that the metaverse will play in the future is related to business applications, in what is called the Industrial Metaverse. That is according to global study from strategy consulting firm Arthur D. Little.
The Industrial Metaverse will be driven by artificial intelligence (AI), complex systems simulation, data visualization, and connectivity. It will be the next evolution of the ‘digital twin’, virtual models with real world applications used across many different industries.
According to the report, the Industrial Metaverse will be a “connected whole-system digital twin with functionalities to interact with the real system in its environment, allowing decision makers to better understand the past and forecast the future.”
The changes that the metaverse has begun ushering in are bringing tech closer to Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution. This is a concept where advanced technologies like IoT (Internet of Things), AI, and automation are combined to transform traditional industries into smart, interconnected systems that optimize production, enhance efficiency, and enable data-driven decision-making.
This process involves machines, devices, and processes communicating and collaborating seamlessly to revolutionize manufacturing and primary industrial processes.
Some of the actual applications for the Industrial Metaverse include smart factories with sensors and connected devices, IoT-enhanced supply chains, robotic automation, the next generation of digital twins, various training use cases, and remote monitoring, among myriad other things.
The market size of the Industrial Metaverse is in the $100 to $150 billion range, according to Arthur D. Little. While the estimation for 2050 is a market size of around $400 billion, the report notes that it is possible to see an upside of up to $1 trillion.
Companies will need to review their metaverse strategies in order to properly identify opportunities moving forward. Implementing pilot projects will allow industries to learn as they move forward with implementing some of these use cases.
Around half of the business leaders surveyed in a previous report said that they have already started using the metaverse commercially and a large majority said that they believe the metaverse would be huge within the next 10 years. In North America, that figure was much higher, with a stunning 82% reporting they have already begun using the metaverse for business purposes.
Thomas Kuruvilla, Managing Partner of Arthur D. Little in the Middle East, said that industrial groups would be mistaken to disregard the transformative potential of the Industrial Metaverse. “Companies are urged to review their digitalisation strategies, identify value-added opportunities, conduct piloted, and foster partner ecosystems for successful integration.”
