Metaverses on the agenda for Dominello, Husic ministerial meeting

Metaverses are on the agenda of a high-level ministerial meeting next week between Victor Dominello, NSW minister for customer service and digital government, and Ed Husic, the recently minted commonwealth minister for industry and science.

Dominello has identified metaverses as an area that needs to be better understood both from the perspective of the opportunity for innovators in the state, but also in terms of risks for citizens, according to Dr Catriona Wallace, founder of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance.

Wallace is writing the state government's metaverse strategy as part of her work for the Gradient Institute.

Wallace told Digital Nation Australia the interest in metaverses by the government is part of the ongoing work of the state government to enhance digital engagement with citizens.

"This strategy is consistent with their path anyway, of then putting things just from the physical world into the digital world, then eventually into the virtual world.

"My understanding is that the minister sees an opportunity for the government in metaverse, things like digital twins are very interesting to them. Education is very interesting to them."

The government's focus is also likely to consider the potential downsides.

"The government also understands that the metaverse is going to be a risky place for citizens. They're interested in building their capability ahead of when the metaverse comes so that they're not caught by surprise, and they can be of greatest service to their citizens while protecting the citizens as well."

Wallace founded the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, which is described as an international movement dedicated to supporting the development of the metaverse so that it is handled responsibly from a perspective of design, deployment, safety, culture, operations and function.

The Alliance has just secured Louis Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Unanimous AI and Immersion Corporation, he is regarded as one of the leading voices in the world on AR and VR   as its chief scientist.

In September, Wallace and Rosenberg will be meeting with the heads of the Metaverse Standards Forum, a group of companies including Microsoft, Qualcomm and Nvidia which is working on issues such as interoperability on metaverses.