In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg envisioned a metaverse dominated by virtual meetings and digital poker nights, signaling his commitment by renaming Facebook to Meta. Yet, the consumer version of this metaverse has already flopped hard. Nonetheless, one space the underlying technology is breaking through is in the industrial sector.

It was Zuckerberg who first popularized the idea of a metaverse. Today, as it has in the past, it’s being redefined and revitalized in this case, by the manufacturing sector. Now, companies are utilizing the power of virtual environments. They’re improving public outreach, streamlining processes, enhancing efficiency and safety, fostering innovation in ways we never thought possible just a few years ago.

Nvidia, a dominant player in game graphics technology, introduced Omniverse to the public in 2022. Just ask NVIDIA Today, their supercomputing-grade GPUs are powering remarkable breakthroughs in AI. From build – operate – maintain Through a range of functionalities, this platform allows to create custom simulations, digital twins and processes automation.

Rev Lebaredian, Nvidia’s vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology, highlighted the wide applicability of metaverse tech.

"This is a general technology—it can be used for all kinds of things." - Rev Lebaredian

Varun Aryacetas is the UK head of AI strategy and innovation practice at Deloitte. Instead, he likes to define the metaverse as spatial computing. This way of looking at it emphasizes the ways in which this technology can produce fully immersive, interactive environments that reflect, extend and interpret our physical world.

The industrial metaverse gives manufacturers the opportunity to build digital twins of their factories. This groundbreaking technology allows them to digitally model complex production processes and identify emerging issues before they even happen in real life. This forward-thinking approach can help to increase safety, drastically mitigate mistakes and maximize productivity.

"You can optimize first and gain a lot of efficiency in the first production, and in the construction phase, you have fewer mistakes," - Mayr

This ability to model world conditions is especially important for training autonomous systems. In building any system, Lebaredian noted, the autonomy to be provided necessitates simulation.

"I mean, representing the real world inside a computer simulation is just very useful for a lot of things—but it’s absolutely essential for building any system that has autonomy in it." - Rev Lebaredian

Besides helping to drive the best possible foundational decisions, the industrial metaverse helps decision-making by tapping a richer pool of holistic data from many factories. According to Mayr, having all data available enables the system to make informed suggestions and apply lessons learned across different facilities.

"Because you have the whole data available, not just for one plant, it will be able to make good suggestions," - Mayr

The World Economic Forum estimates that the industrial metaverse will global value $100 billion by 2030. This forecast points to a historic shift in the way industries use immersive technologies.

The industrial metaverse is a truly pragmatic and rich application of the technology. It does so by delivering real-world value like streamlined processes, fewer errors, smarter decisions, and more.

Lebaredian noted that for acquiring real-world experience, simulation is becoming more critical.

"Real-world experience isn’t going to come mostly from the real world—it comes from simulation," - Rev Lebaredian

With virtual prototyping, manufacturers can avoid making expensive missteps by finding—and fixing—problems digitally. This forward-looking stance enables them to prevent costly holdups in the real world. Lebaredian emphasized the value of being able to detect problems early on.

"The later you find a problem, the worse it is," - Rev Lebaredian