Business in Metaverse: Applications and Implications

The world is swiftly preparing for the metaverse as it rapidly evolves from a sci-fi concept into a reality, which brings turbulence in the technology driven world. Metaverse has been touted to form the next generation of business applications and models, which will have significant implications for society and organisational functions. It has gained traction from technology companies like Microsoft, Facebook and Nvidia, and retailers like Nike and Ralph Lauren, offering a blend of online and offline experiences occurring in several alternative worlds. The proliferation of technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, blockchain applications such as smart contract and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cloud computing (5G networks) are playing a pivotal role in accelerating the adoption and virtual immersive experiences of users, causing business model disruption as well as innovation in the metaverse ecosystem. The course will contribute to SDG8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).