Project Coordinator: Dr. Eng. Ionuț PETRE – Scientific Researcher II

General objectives of the project

• Examining and strengthening the state of knowledge in the field of Metaverse and its applicability in priority areas of society;
• The design and creation of a Metaverse experimentation space for the two proposed theoretical models;
• Experiencing specific Metaverse technologies;
• Development of a reference architecture model for the development of specific public administration services;
• Developing a specific educational curriculum using Metaverse;
• Proposals for strategic regulation of the field at national level;
• Increasing institutional prestige by disseminating the results in ISI indexed journals and with impact factor as well as organizing thematic workshops;
• Strengthening the knowledge of the involved researchers and gaining new skills in the areas of smart specialization, such as XR technologies, artificial intelligence systems, cyber security.

Project description

The project is synergic with the institution's strategy regarding the promotion of appropriate initiatives in the field of ICT, including through multidisciplinary research, adapted to the latest trends of the future society, resulting in both the advancement of knowledge in the field and the increase of institutional competitiveness through infrastructures new research and increasing the research skills of our own human resources.

The Metaverse implies the convergence between the physical, the virtual and the augmented world, the potential of this emerging form of interaction being still in the early exploration phase, with high potential for both research and solution development. Considering the complexity of the subject and the ubiquity of the potential application of the Metaverse paradigm, the challenges that will be addressed in the project are: maturity and accessibility of VR/AR/MR technologies, scalability, regulation, interoperability, privacy.

The contributions of the project aim deepening and expanding the social and institutional scientific aspects and the proposal of alternatives put at the service of the common good and the well-being of citizens. The ultimate goal is to structure the Metaverse in ways that are morally acceptable and democratically beneficial to society.

From a scientific and technical point of view, the project makes significant contributions to the development of research on Metaverse, in several major fields, among which education and public services were chosen. The research methodology of the project is structured on the following phases:

• Phase I – Analysis of the state of the art in the field of Metaverse. Phase I will analyze the possibility of defining a governance model for proposed new models;
• Phase II – Analysis of Metaverse specific technologies. In phase II, the most frequently used technologies (AR, VR, XR, MR) will be identified and analyzed. Expansion possibilities for existing technologies as well as interoperability capabilities will be analyzed;
• Phase III – Contributions to the development of the Metaverse domain in Romania. Phase III aims to create an interaction framework in Metaverse, by creating a space to experiment with specific Metaverse technologies by expanding the existing Digital Transformation innovation laboratory;
• Phase IV – Analysis of the applicability of the Metaverse in priority areas of the governance of society. Phase IV will respond to the main challenges generated by the new type of government-citizen interaction by analyzing the impact of Metaverse on different areas of governance, developing an ethical and technological framework to support the interaction, identifying risks and mitigating solutions;
• Phase V – Development of a framework for application development using Metaverse in public services. In Phase V, the potential that the Metaverse can have in increasing the attractiveness and accessibility of public services will be investigated with the evaluation of their performance;
• Phase VI – Development of a functional framework for application development using Metaverse in education;
• Phase VII – Contributions to the emergence of learning environments using Metaverse in Romania. In this phase, user experience measurement models will be identified;
• Phase VIII – Regulation of the Metaverse domain in Romania. In this phase, the standards that will already exist will be analyzed for the making of Metaverse implementation strategy proposals. The Metaverse laboratory will be a testing space for technologies specific to this new field, which will be operationalized as an extension of the current DIGITRAIN laboratory.

Estimated results

• Scientific studies regarding the state of the art of the field, the technologies used and how they were experimented within the project, the applications made previously in the fields of interest (education and governance);
• ISI listed scientific publications, a special issue of an ISI indexed journal, an edited book;
• Project site, 8 newsletters (2/year) with main achievements in the field;
• Presence on social media: Facebook page of the institution, dedicated group on LinkedIn, announcements on Twitter;
• Experimental model for creating a Metaverse experimentation space;
• Theoretical model of data governance in Metaverse;
• Conceptual models for using Metaverse (in education and administration);
• Architecture proposal for using Metaverse in administration;
• Course curriculum using Metaverse;
• Strategy proposals for Metaverse implementation (in education and administration).