The ministries of culture and digital transition are considering the deployment of metaverse in France and Europe. They announced to the public the exploratory mission ordered in February 2022 and the various strategies created by the government.
Rima Abdul-Malak, Minister of Culture, and Jean-Noël Barrot, Delegate of the Minister in charge of Digital Transition and Telecommunications announced the exploratory report on the development of the metaverse. This mission was commissioned in February and carried out by Camille François, a researcher at Columbia University.
A first committee
The mission strives to provide the keys to understanding to clarify the debate and seize emerging opportunities. The government therefore wants to understand the risks posed by the metaverse and unite French players on a common horizon. To carry out this study, more than 80 personalities were consulted: entrepreneurs specializing in virtual reality and blockchain, cultural actors, artists, video game professionals, researchers in social sciences, artificial intelligence and computer science..
“This report on the exploratory mission of the metaverses includes all the issues related to the development of these new digital spaces and shows to what extent creators are called to play a pioneering role to determine their full potential, commented Rima Abdul-Malak, Minister of Culture. The Ministry of Culture will rely on these recommendations to support new uses and implement an ambitious strategy to support the creation, innovation and dissemination of works in these digital spaces.“.
A dozen suggestions
“The metaverses will be decisive for the future of digital and the Web3, where France must play a leading role at the global level by relying on knowledge, world industry leaders and an exemplary entrepreneurial spirit“, commented Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate in charge of Digital Transition and Telecommunications.
The government report thus mentions several action levers such as seizing the opportunity of the metaverse of regain leading positions in global digital services, in France and in Europe. It also aims to launch the work of adapting European texts (RGDP, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act) to the challenges of the metaverse. Going forward, the government wants to analyze the metaverse value chains in order to guide the strategic areas of investment and limit the risks of loss of sovereignty or fall in value. On the occasion of the 2024 Olympics, the Ministries of Culture and Digital Transition want to bring together the actors of the French metaverse around different cultural projects and the development of the territory and heritage.
The organization of the 2024 Olympics in Paris will bring together specialists in the French metaverse
The government hopes to bring a variety of services that allow access to multiple metaverses. He also wished achieve the objectives of cultural and technological sovereignty by supporting French technological structures and cultural institutions. Another lever for action is the reinvestment of bodies for the negotiation of technical standards, to ensure that France and its players participate in discussions on immersion technologies. This mission report is also informative support interdisciplinary research initiatives to jointly develop metaverse experiments guided by societal needs (culture, health, education, environment) and the methods of evaluating socio-technical risks through empirical studies.
The government plans to create a computer research laboratory dedicated to immersive arts.
the creation of a research and coordination institute, in the model of Ircam (music acoustic research and coordination institute) is one of the projects. It can be a computer research laboratory dedicated to immersive arts, a place of coordination between researchers and artists for the creation of innovative immersive works in the metaverse, in addition to creating an expertise counter for in all cultural institutions. Finally, after this report, the government pointed out that exploring eco-responsible solutions and developing a system to measure the environmental impact of metaverse infrastructures.