In a recent news report, the European Union revealed its aim to improve the governance, funding, and standards of its metaverse project rather than introducing new laws.
According to the report, the European Commission recently announced its plans for the rapidly growing metaverse space, stating that it wants to lay out new governance and standards for the digital ecosystems.
Furthermore, the commission revealed that it does not plan to develop new regulations for the industry. Also, the union has an ambiguous funding structure for what it considers the new era of the Internet.
However, policymakers are reportedly expecting the commission to make judicious use of the outstanding economic and ethical potentials that the innovation offers.
According to Thierry Breton, a commissioner for the EU internal market, Europe has what is required and plans to give all it would take to become a global front-runner in the emerging Web 4 and metaverse.
In addition, the commissioner projected that the virtual space which is based on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, by 2030, could accumulate a net worth of about £800 billion (equivalent to $880 billion) all over the world.
The EU Is Set To Venture Into Emerging Technologies
Furthermore, he revealed that the commission is ready to fund its way into becoming versatile and one of the leaders in the emerging virtual sector with high energy.
Meanwhile, the commission set to collaborate with Horizon Europe Metaverse to oversee the science funding project which the EU recently embarked on.
Commenting on the partnership, an anonymous commissioner for the European Union believed that the commission would be planning to make provision for at least 200 million euros and also provide potential investment through the regional funds of the confusion.
In recent times, politicians have been showing strong interest in the use and adoption of various blockchain-based products and innovations. Earlier this year, all leaders of the 27 European states members reportedly issued their support for Web 4 and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other evolving technologies.
According to the report, the countries in unison named Web 4, 6G internet networks, quantum computing, and AI as paramount technologies in which they must participate competitively.
Axel Voss, a lawmaker of the Union, believed that the metaverse poses a lot of legally disputable components such as copyright and patent protection, avatars’ legal status, and fraudulent activities that plagued the virtual space.
In addition, Voss stated that a lot of questions about the space need answers and the commission cannot solely provide all the answers. Axel Voss is reportedly a European Parliament German Member that captained the AI project recently launched by the EU.
Voss Urged The EU To Make Haste In Developing Hubs For Emerging Innovations
Nonetheless, the commissioner is reportedly in support of the EU’s interest in Web 4, AI, and other technological innovation development. In addition, he reportedly called for the Union to hasten their plans towards the development.
Furthermore, Voss suggested that the commission should use existing regulations like the General Data Protection Policy to regulate the metaverse space.
However, he also admitted that the General Data Protection Policy might not be fit to efficiently regulate emerging technologies due to their strict privacy and decentralized natures.
But, Voss said the regulation can be updated or modernized to align with the nature of the innovations. Also, he opined that the European Union has failed in its obligation to efficiently tame negative content on social media at the budding stage.
He added that the EU members seldom own many of the major Web 2 companies that existed mainly because they refused to act up at the emergence of the sector decades ago. Now, Voss is afraid history might repeat itself if the commission fails to act fast again.
He concluded that the European Union needs to act together, act now, and act on priorities if they wish to catch up with the fast-moving train of emerging technologies around the globe.