News 13 December 2022

Renaissance Numérique launches the “Metaverse Dialogues”

This last year, “metaverse” - but also “NFT”, “blockchain” and “Web3” - have become the trendiest buzzwords in the tech world. The metaverse, in particular, has become this high-end train from the future that no one wants to miss, be it private companies or public actors. It was not long before the European Commission took a stance on the matter and announced its intention to look into the regulation of the metaverse. But is the metaverse already “here”? If not, what time horizon are we looking at? Should we talk about the "metaverse", in singular form, or about the "metaverses", in plural form? Who is building or is going to build the metaverse or metaverses, how, for whom and for what purpose? Considering the economic, societal, and legal issues that are emerging and that may emerge in the near future, how to ensure it provides a beneficial social experience for all? To shed light on those issues, Renaissance Numérique launched the "Metaverse Dialogues" on Monday 12 December.

About the “Metaverse Dialogues”

In late October 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta and announced that from then on, the company’s goal “will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses”. Around that same period, the group said it would create 10,000 highly-qualified jobs in Europe over a period of 5 years to contribute to the creation of the metaverse. In parallel, and for quite some time already, companies like Tim Sweeney’s Epic Games or Sébastien Borget’s The Sandbox, have been developing their own, different, vision of the metaverse. Today, even “traditional” economic actors, ranging from luxury group LVMH to retail and wholesale giant Carrefour, are developing immersive worlds and experiences of their own.

This worldwide craze has sparked reaction, including at the highest level of governments. In his public address of 17 March 2022, launching his campaign for the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron called for the creation of a “European metaverse”. A few weeks earlier, the European Commission, through its Executive Vice-president, had also jumped on the bandwagon: “The metaverse is here already. So of course we start analysing what will be the role for a regulator, what is the role for our legislature,” said Margrethe Vestager during an online event.

But is the metaverse already “here”? If not, what time horizon are we looking at? Should we talk about the “metaverse”, in singular form, or about the “metaverses”, in plural form? Who is building or is going to build the metaverse or metaverses, how, for whom and for what purpose? Considering the economic, societal, and legal issues that are emerging and that may emerge in the near future, how to ensure it provides a beneficial social experience for all?

To shed light on those issues, Renaissance Numérique is launching the “Metaverse Dialogues”. Over the course of five months, it will gather French, European and international high-level experts, including institutional players, device manufacturers, representatives of the video games and virtual worlds industry, major tech companies, big and smaller economic actors from other sectors, but also academic experts representing a wide spectrum of social sciences (anthropology, economy, political science, psychology, cognitive sciences, sociology…) and civil society representatives. During three one-day dialogues, they will engage in the constructive confrontation of their experience and knowledge, with a view to shed light on the technological, legal and societal issues that are emerging — and are likely to emerge — as the metaverse develops. For now, the metaverse agenda remains mainly dictated by the supply side, rather than demand, and users’ perspective is seldom considered in current public debates. With this international, multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach, Renaissance Numérique’s ambition is to put users at the centre of discussions.

In addition, Renaissance Numérique will mobilise its members to share and complete the reflections carried out during these three days of dialogue between experts. A qualitative study on the narratives, practices and discourses of some twenty early and professional users, conducted in partnership with L’ObSoCo, will also feed into this work.

Dialogue #1 – “Collective narratives, affordance and use cases”

The first “Metaverse Dialogue”, dedicated to “Collective narratives, affordance and use cases”, took place on Monday 12 December, in Paris.

The following experts took part in the discussion:

Adrien BASDEVANT, Lawyer, Member of the French National Digital Council (Conseil National du Numérique or CNNum)
Antoine BORDES, Managing Director, FAIR, Meta AI
Dominique BOULLIER, Professor, Sciences Po
Clotilde BRIEND, Public Policy Manager, Meta
Régis CHATELLIER, Innovation and Foresight Project Manager, Innovation Lab, CNIL
Nicolas DE BOUVILLE, EMEA Privacy Policy Manager, Meta
Isabel DE PEUTER-RUTTEN, Co-founder, Euromersive
Lise HADDOUK, Psychologist
Raphaële HÉNO, Head of Innovation, IGN (French national mapping agency)
Henri ISAAC, Professor, Paris-Dauphine University
Micaela MANTEGNA, Affiliate, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
Anthony MASURE, Associate Professor and Head of Research, Geneva School of Arts and Design (HEAD)
Leïla MÖRCH, Programme Manager Europe, Project Liberty
David NAHON, Head of XR innovation, Dassault Systèmes; Secretary General, CNXR
Xavier PERRET, Director, Azure & Support, Microsoft France
Nicolas POUARD, Vice-president, Strategic Innovation Lab, Ubisoft

Dialogue #2 – “ Economics of the human body and avatars in the metaverse”

The second “Metaverse Dialogue”, dedicated to the economic issues surrounding body projection and the use of avatars in immersive worlds, was held on Monday March 13, 2023, in Paris.

The following experts took part in the discussions:

Xavier ABADIE, International Development Director, SimforHealth
Cecilia ÁLVAREZ, EMEA Privacy Policy Director, Meta
Étienne Armand AMATO, Senior Lecturer, Université Gustave Eiffel
Sébastien BORGET, Co-founder & COO, The Sandbox
Clotilde BRIEND, Public Policy Manager, Meta
Arnaud DRESSEN, Founder, Wonda
Nicolas DUPAIN, President, France Immersive Learning
Faustine FLEURET, President & CEO, Association for the Development of Digital Assets (ADAN)
Alain GOUDEY, Deputy Managing Director, Neoma Business School
Henri GRELET, Director of Controlling and Operations, Dorcel Group
Henri ISAAC, Senior Lecturer, Université Paris Dauphine – PSL
Aylin KIP, Standardization Project Manager, Pôle Numérique, AFNOR
Olivier MAUCO, Founder, Game in Society
Clément MERVILLE, Member, Controv3rse

Dialogue #3 – “Data, privacy, identity, regulation: potential legal challenges”

The third and last “Metaverse Dialogue”, dedicated to the potential legal challenges that may emerge with the development of metaverses, was held on Wednesday 5th July 2023, in Brussels. The following experts took part in the discussions:

Cecila ÀLVAREZ, EMEA Privacy Policy Director, Meta
Yaniv BENHAMOU, Associated professor, University of Geneva
Benedikt BLOMEYER-BARTENSTEIN, Regulatory Affairs Europe, Apple
Régis CHATELLIER, Innovation and Foresight Project Manager, CNIL
Étienne DROUARD, Partner, Hogan Lovells
Philip EDER LEVACHER, Apple
Paul FEHLINGER, Director of Policy, Governance Innovation & Impact, McCourt Institute
Jorge FÉLIX-CARDOSO, Parliamentary Assistant to MEP Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques
Elvire FRANÇOIS, Government Affairs Manager, Microsoft
Claire LEVALLOIS-BARTH, Institut Mines Télécom
Frederico SILVA, Senior Policy Officer, BEUC
Alain STROWEL, Professor, UC Louvain
Pablo TRIGO KRAMCSÁK , Researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

Contact

Eager to learn more? Feel free to contact Jessica Galissaire, Renaissance Numérique’s Studies & Partnerships Manager, at j.galissaire@renaissancenumerique.org.