Blockchain, Photonics, & Electronics, and Digital Identity building blocks for Virtual Worlds

OPENVERSE, in its work as a Coordination and Support Action, is pulling together a community of key stakeholders engaged in the promotion and uptake of Virtual Worlds enabling technologies.

The community of stakeholders is organised according to different building blocks, as outlined by the European Commission’s Staff Working Document: information, insights and market trends on web 4.0 and virtual worlds (2023).

In this workshop, OPENVERSE explores Blockchain, Photonics and Electronics as foundational enablers of Virtual Worlds. While Photonics and Electronics form the physical and infrastructural backbone that enables ultra-fast connectivity and high-performance computing, Blockchain establishes trust, transparency, and decentralized governance across digital ecosystems. Digital Identity, in turn, empowers individuals and entities with secure, verifiable, and interoperable representations of self within these environments.
Together, these technologies create a trusted, high-speed, and user-centric foundation for immersive, persistent, and interoperable Virtual Worlds, where authenticity, performance, and sovereignty converge.

Participants will explore how these architectures, frameworks, and toolchains support the creation, operation, and governance of Virtual Worlds across use cases with the aim of:

• Gather insights into the OPENVERSE Technological Framework, particularly regarding how those technologies shape Virtual World infrastructures and integration across building blocks.
• Foster collaboration among European initiatives advancing VWs, promoting synergies and knowledge exchange with other OPENVERSE assets, such as the Observatory.

To ensure broad participation, OPENVERSE will invite:

• Identified EU-funded initiatives in its stakeholder network already deploying Blockchain, Photonics and Electronics, and Digital Identity within Virtual World use cases; and
• New contributors, through an open call for presentations, showcase architectures, blueprints, standards, and lessons learned from pilots, testbeds, and theoretical frameworks.

The workshop will be organised in two 1-hour blocks. The first will look at blockchain and digital identity, the second on photonics and electronics.

Outcomes from the event will be synthesised into a consolidated report feeding directly into the OPENVERSE Technological Framework and related instruments, helping Europe advance toward trusted, human-centric Virtual Worlds.

Workshop activities

The workshop will start with a short introduction by the OPENVERSE project, giving participants an overview of the agenda and the reason why the workshop was organised.

After the introduction, the OPENVERSE team in charge of drafting the Technological Framework will present it in detail and address targeted questions that will spark discussion around key aspects that may require future improvements.

Useful resources

• Openverse website
• Openverse Technological Framework (general)
• Openverse wiki – Technological Framework
• Openverse Observatory

AGENDA

Registrations are now open here