Facebook Launches USD 50M Investment In Metaverse Research, Partnerships

Source: AdobeStock/tashatuvango

Facebook has announced a two-year $ 50 million investment in global research and program partners to ensure “responsible development” of Metaverse.

The development is part of the social media giant’s strategy to become”a metaverseous company” operating in an “embodied Internet” that connects real and virtual worlds on an unprecedented scale.

Earlier this year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went public with his Metaverse-related ambitions, claiming that “a good vision for the Metaverse is not one that builds a particular company,” but one that has a “sense of interoperability and portability.”

The development could potentially have a major impact on the company’s diem stablecoin plans.

“Just like the internet, the Metaverse exists whether Facebook is there or not,” the company said.

It added that many of these products will not be fully realized for another 10-15 years”While this is frustrating for those of us who desperately want to immerse ourselves, it gives us time to ask the difficult questions of how they should be built,” they said.

Facebook stated that its investment will allow the company to work with experts across the board to analyze the underlying issues and opportunities within the metaverse, such as: Building the necessary interoperability between services and various challenges related to human rights, civil rights communities and inclusivity.

“Through this fund, we will work with industry partners, civil rights groups, governments, nonprofits, and academic institutions to determine how to build these technologies responsibly,” the company said.

Key areas where the social media giant wants to work with partners include:

• Economic opportunities,
• Privacy,
• Security and Inclusion,
• Equity and inclusion.

In the US, the Organization of American States is among the first partners of the program, while the African partners of Facebook include Africa No Filter, Electric South and Imisi3D.

In Europe, the company wants to work with women in immersive technology, while Asian partners are Seoul National University, the University of Hong Kong and the Center for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Law of the National University of Singapore at the Faculty of Law.