Imagine Digital Scotland wasn’t just a brand, an event or this web site, but an actual digital place.
Literally, a digitized version of the nation, where you can walk around and meet other people there, a ‘digital twin’ if you will.
That’s the vision for ‘The Metaverse’, what is described as the future of the Internet, an entirely virtual reality world, brought into the public mainstream consciousness through Facebook’s massive investment into the trend and even the rebranding of their company to Meta.
Metaverse Innovators
While the ultimate vision of a single, real-world realistic Metaverse environment is some time away, there is still very tangible innovation happening right now, using different virtual world tools and environments.
For example big businesses like Nike are implementing ‘Nikeland’, a Metaverse world powered by Roblox for their consumers to engage with the brand in a radically new and innovative form, and through the use of NFTs, purchase ‘virtual sneakers’.
To the heart of what Digital Scotland is all about, other exciting pioneers are right here in Scotland, notably some schools using the technology to transform how education is delivered, the ‘Eduverse’.
It’s hard to imagine a more potent and important exemplar – Using the latest technologies to equip our young for what will inevitably be a technology driven future economy.
Global Scots and Digital Embassies
For some ideas on what else Scotland could do to harness and be at the forefront of this amazing trend, within a context of an overall national strategy, we can look at our ambitions to be a more connected, global country.
For example the primary function of the Global Scots program and our embassy initiatives like the Scottish Government in Canada, the USA and Germany, is to connect Scottish businesses and entrepreneurs with useful contacts around the world, and what better way to accelerate this activity than bringing them all together in a virtual world specifically intended for easily connecting people from across the globe.
Another small, highly innovative nation Barbados has launched the first virtual embassy in the Metaverse, and Scotland could do the same.
There are Metaverse platforms that are especially ideal for this, catering for an event style format, with conference talks, fireside chat networking rooms and vendor exhibition stands. This would be perfect for showcasing up and coming Scottish companies, providing a platform for ‘Virtual Trade Missions’.
Such a strategy would be a massive accelerator for Scotland’s economy, putting us at the heart of what is now the single most important technology trend in the world and boosting international growth for a multitude of Scottish businesses.
