From 12 to 14 June, Geneva held a series of events dedicated to virtual worlds, during which important standardisation work related to the metaverse and different digital environments was carried out. Researchers Anna Matamala, Estel·la Oncins, and Pilar Orero, from the research group TransMedia Catalonia in the AccessCat Network, were present in several roles, ranging from speakers to project mentors.

On 12 and 13 June, the seventh meeting of the ITU Focus Group on metaverse (FG-MV)  was held. More specifically, the researchers were part of the WG8 working group, dedicated to sustainability and accessibility, co-led by Orero. The efforts of this working group’s latest meeting concluded with, among others, a pre-standardisation deliverable from the UAB (on which the AccessCat researchers have worked), which was approved during the session. 

During the afternoon of 13 June, the fifth forum on the metaverse took place, during which Orero participated in the second session, “Exploring Use Cases and Reference Models for Integrated Virtual-Physical Worlds with Digital Twins”, with a presentation that focused on language, interaction, and accessibility to the metaverse, among other topics. More information and Orero’s slides are available on the ITU website.

Finally, on 14 June, the first edition of the UN Virtual Worlds Day was held. This event served to explore and discuss how the metaverse and digital environments can help achieve SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

Moreover, in April, the ITU invited Orero as an expert to mentor four groups of finalists at the UN Metaverse Think-a-Thon. After two months of work, the Think-a-Thon winners were announced during the UN Virtual Worlds Day, and first place was awarded to one of the projects Orero mentored.

You can read more about the Network’s standardisation activities on our website.