IIT-Madras Begins Draft Work on ‘Metaverse India Policy and Standards’ with Industry Veterans

The metaverse market, that is expected to grow at an annual rate of 37.7 percent in the next six years, is estimated to reach the valuation of $74.4 billion (roughly Rs. 6,20,918 crore) by the end of 2024. Gearing up to withstand the force of advancements in Web3, IIT Madras has begun drafting policies to oversee the metaverse sector. Called the XTIC (the eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre), a research and development body incubated by the IIT-M, has begun work around something called the ‘Metaverse India Policy and Standards (MIPS)'.

The XTIC has established a dedicated committee to conduct research around the predictable use cases and loopholes in the current metaverse ecosystem. The committee will address the technical and ethical shortcomings to make the industrial use of this digital technology safer and more advanced.

Rrahul Sethi, a veteran from India's tech space who recently launched a metaverse experience centre in NCR's Noida, is part of this committee. In conversation with Gadgets360, Sethi noted that the MIPS will not curate policies and standards around the metaverse on its own, but will collaborate with industry players, conduct dialogues, and publish reports for the government to refer to while centrally deploying Web3-related policies.

“The metaverse is a rapidly evolving concept. Experts and leaders from across India and from other parts of the world will join in here collectively to discuss these standards and create awareness around them,” Sethi said.

A fully-functional virtual universe, the metaverse ecosystem is built on blockchain networks. The technology offers a hyper-realistic virtual ecosystem where people can work, socialise, play games, and window shop from the comfort of their homes.

In a recently released report, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said that 92 percent manufacturing firms in the US are already exploring ways to add a metaverse twist to their existing business operations.

“The industrial metaverse, is projected to be a $100 billion (roughly Rs. 8,29,018 crore) market globally by 2030. The metaverse will propel the next phase of industrial revolution through the convergence of digital twins, a core building block of the industrial metaverse, and four rapidly evolving fields – spatial computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web3, and blockchain,” the report had said at the time.

Now that IIT-M has kickstarted the process of drafting rules to oversee the Web3 sector, the committee will analyse the potential impacts of metaverse across sectors including education, healthcare, gaming, and enterprise, and propose strategies to maximise benefits.

Addressing ethical, privacy, and security issues linked to metaverse and collaborating with stakeholders from industry, academia, and government to gather diverse perspectives and insights are part of the committee's agenda.

“These are major outcome goals but we are still deliberating on more. Government bodies will also use the reports to set standards,” Sethi added.

Back in January, China also formed a body that would set the standards for use and exploration of metaverse there.

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