DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: WEB3 & METAVERSE

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We often hear about digital transformation, a process that is bringing improvements and progress on a large scale in multiple sectors. Digitalisation is certainly at the heart of every business or company, whatever the size or origin. The IT sector, specifically areas such as cybersecurity, big data, blockchain, gaming, is experiencing a golden age and, a few years ago, we would never have imagined what we would have reached today. After the rise and following adoption of artificial intelligence, it is time for new actors to get on the stage of the future. Web3 and metaverse are on everyone's lips. We read about virtual worlds, augmented realities, digital extensions of reality; we are witnessing the birth of the metaverse and the third evolution of the World Wide Web.

Web3
The term Web3 was first used in 2014 by Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of the Polkadot network. In 2021, thanks to the popularity acquired by the blockchain and crypto sector, large and small IT companies aimed their resources in the development of the new Web, attracting the attention of many venture capitalists. The goal is to move from a centralized Internet, where the content uploaded by users is in the hands of big techs, the major IT multinationals, to a decentralized version of the Internet. Decentralization is a key point for the blockchain sector and it is no coincidence that the term Web3 was coined by one of the major blockchain supporters. Just as the blockchain makes the data decentralized, giving them to users, Web3 decentralizes the ownership of digital content by using the aforementioned technology. Not just businesses and companies: some governments are already working to implement new strategies and systems within their development plans. The opening of a Web3 organisation by the Japanese government is recent news. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan has opened the Web3 Policy Office: the main goal will be not only the development of Web3 but also the adoption of the metaverse.

Metaverse
The event that lights the fuse for the race to the Metaverse involves Mark Zuckerberg's company: on October 28, 2021, Facebook announces name change to Meta. In the following weeks, the financial market, especially the crypto sector, explodes and millions of dollars flow towards metaverse-focused projects, such as The Sandbox and Decentraland. Small and large investors focus their forces on developing the digital future. If Japan has opened a Web3 office, the Emirate of Dubai has presented its development plan, named Dubai Metaverse Strategy. In five years, Dubai will create a $4 billion metaverse economy and 40,000 new virtual jobs. That of the Web3 and metaverse is therefore a race for progress on a large scale, which embraces small and large companies, countries economically strong but also developing realities. The Central African Republic, after the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, proposes an economic growth plan based on blockchain, Web3 and metaverse. The Sango project will be implemented step by step. Some of the objectives are the development of an institutional blockchain, creation of a national digital currency (Sango Coin), tokenization of plots of land to be then virtually replicated within the Sango metaverse.

A digital evolution
The pandemic has dramatically speed up the development of new emerging technologies. Plus, thanks to the rebrand of Facebook in Meta, the push towards VR is the result of the digital transformation: jobs have been transitioning to platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet; the blockchain development and the adoption of cryptocurrencies are symptoms of the aforementioned digital transformation; the metaverse seems to be an imminent reality, not a mere futuristic concept. Furthermore, 87% of Generation Z has an average weekly playtime of around 7 hours.

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