Understanding the $100 Billion Industrial Metaverse Market.

Mention the Metaverse and it’s the Consumer experience that springs to mind. However, there’s also the Industrial and Enterprise Metaverses.

In this week’s newsletter we explore the Metaverse via all 3 experiences. Each is defined, the overall challenges outlined, with concluding arguments on why the Industrial Metaverse is the future of business.

Metaverse Definition.

Neal Stephenson¹ coined the phrase “Metaverse” in his book Snow Crash. He defines it as

Metaverse Types & Experiences.

MIT Technology outline 3 metaverse sectors in their report “The Emergent Industrial Metaverse”² :

The report outlines market investment of $180 billion by 2030, with:

• Industrial the largest at $100 billion 

• Consumer at $50 billion, and

• Enterprise with $30 billion

As a comparison the IDC’s ³ forecast for Generative AI investment for 2026 is $300 billion.

The metaverse is an evolving technology.

There’s also a lack of regulation and standards. Agreeing common standards, for example on data formats and security protocols, will help ensure the metaverse is a safe and reliable environment.

Interoperability. Unless metaverse platforms are able to communicate with each other, users are locked into single platforms, limiting experiences.

Effective Governance. The metaverse must be governed in a way that protects users’ rights and interests. A combination of government and self-regulation could achieve this.

Simulated factories, immersive experiences and gaming requires a high level of technology, knowledge and skills - expensive!

In providing all 3 experiences, the metaverse collects a lot of data. With consumer data, there’s always the potential for malicious use — identity theft, fraud etc.

Lastly, immersive experiences are addictive ⁴ , leading to social isolation, dependency and mental health issues.

Metaverse Losses.

Meta’s Reality Lab has reportedly lost $50 billion since 2020⁵ .

If the company synonymous with the Consumer Metaverse is making significant losses, what hope is there for the Industrial Metaverse?

The Industrial Metaverse is the future of business for the following reasons:

1. Differing Use Cases: The Industrial Metaverse⁶ focuses on real world issues, it isn’t Consumer escapism or Enterprise collaboration

2. Clearer Outcomes: The Business Case is clearer, more defined whether it’s cost savings, training simulations or productivity gains

3. Complexity Modelling: There’s the added bonus of being able to model and simulate complexity in a controlled environment using real world data and processes.

4. Significant Returns / Insights: Potential for significant returns and insights by modelling real life scenarios in controlled environments

The car manufacturer Renault, states that

Take a look at the full Renault case study below.

In Conclusion.

Generative AI is attracting more investment.

However, the Industrial Metaverse is re-shaping how we work, innovate, and solve problems. In blending the physical and digital worlds, a new playground⁷ is created allowing businesses to simulate, optimise and predict their way out of real-world problems.

This is why the Industrial Metaverse is more than a cool concept, fancy tech - it's the future of business! 

1  Neal Stephenson

2  MIT Technology Review

3  Worldwide Spending on AI-Centric Systems 

4  Addiction, crime and data breaches: The metaverse could become a wild west if we’re not careful

5  Meta’s Reality Labs posts $4.5 billion loss in second quarter

6  How the Industrial Metaverse will be different to the consumer one - and why it matters

7  Siemens and NVIDIA partner to build the Industrial Metaverse