Seeking "overtaking on a curve", the European Commission released the Web 4.0 and virtual world strategic initiative

Source: Financial Associated Press

Editor Shi Zhengcheng

On Tuesday local time, the European Commission released a series of documents “Web 4.0 and the Virtual World Initiative: Taking the Lead in the Next Technological Transformation”, which shows that the EU, which is lagging behind in the Internet age, is seeking to take advantage of the “bending” during the technological transformation period. Overtaking" idea.

(Source: European Commission)

First of all, it is necessary to explain the concepts mentioned in this document.

The European Commission stated that the Internet is developing at an extremely fast speed. In addition to Web 3.0, which is currently progressing (the main features are openness, decentralization, and user empowerment), **Web 4.0 will allow the digital world and real objects, Integration between environments and enhanced interaction between humans and machines. **As such, Web 4.0 will be the major technological transformation that will bring about a seamlessly connected, intelligent and immersive world.

The European Union expects that by 2030, the global virtual world market will grow from 27 billion euros in 2022 to more than 800 billion euros. ** There is no doubt that virtual worlds will impact the way people live, presenting both opportunities and potential risks that need to be addressed.

Faced with such a somewhat “virtual” concept, the European Union, which strives to be the first, has also proposed some specific actions in the strategic framework.

The EU emphasized that the Web 4.0 and Virtual World Initiative mainly consists of four pillars. The first three align with the pillars of the Digital EU 2030 project: human skills, business environment and public services. The fourth pillar includes the goals of infrastructure construction such as computing power and cloud, as well as the openness and global governance of Web 4.0 and the virtual world.

Four key strategic pillars of the EU’s Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds initiative:

1. Empower people and strengthen skills to raise awareness, access trustworthy information, and build a talent pool of virtual world experts. By the end of 2023, the committee will promote the guiding principles for virtual worlds, and will develop a “Citizen toolbox” for general public use in Q1 2024. As specialists in the virtual world are essential, the Commission will work with member states to build a talent pipeline and will support skills development for creators of digital content through projects funded by the Digital Europe programme, as well as through the Creative Europe programme** **.

2. Business: Support the European Web 4.0 industrial ecosystem to move towards excellence and solve the problem of fragmentation. Currently, the EU does not have an ecosystem that brings together players from different value chains of the virtual world and Web 4.0**. The Commission has proposed a candidate project on virtual worlds under the European scientific research program (Horizon Europe), possibly starting in 2025, to boost research and develop an industrial and technological roadmap for virtual worlds. To foster innovation, the Commission will also support creators and media companies in the EU to test new authoring tools, bring together developers and industrial users, and work with Member States to develop** the regulation of Web 4.0 and virtual worlds Sandbox**.

3. Government: Support social progress and virtual public services to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the virtual world. The EU is already investing in a series of large-scale digitalization projects to help researchers advance science, industry develop sophisticated applications, and public institutions make informed policy decisions. The Commission is launching two new public flagship projects: the **CitiVerse, an immersive urban environment that can be used for urban planning and management; and a European virtual human twin that will replicate the human body to support clinical decision-making and individual therapy. **

4. Shape open, collaborative virtual worlds, Web 4.0 global standards, ensure they are not dominated by a few large players.

Of course, since the concept of “virtual world” in the outside world is still largely based on Apple’s Vision Pro glasses, many media have focused on the last item when reporting: **The European Union is committed to preventing large technology companies from dominating the “metaverse” "s future. **

In the official document, Vice President of the European Commission and Competition Commissioner Vestager in charge of antitrust also stated: “We want to ensure that Web 4.0 becomes an open, safe, trusted, fair and inclusive digital environment for all. Put people at the centre, shaping these rules in line with EU digital rights and principles to address risks around privacy or misinformation.”

Vestager also mentioned last week that China currently has no plans to specifically legislate for the “metaverse”, but it is expected that a series of laws will be introduced in recent years, such as privacy protection, antitrust and the “AI” under consideration. Act can be applied to new fields. **