Nokia Shifts Focus to Developing Technology for the Metaverse?

Nokia, formerly known for consumer mobile phones, has shifted its focus to developing technology and equipment for delivering the internet, including the metaverse. In partnership with an Australian university, the company has already created a 5G-connected microbrewery using metaverse technology and is exploring its use for remote aircraft maintenance. 

“Nokia set up two labs last year to really look at the Metaverse and the technologies that underpin the Metaverse,” says Robert Joyce, chief technical officer of Nokia Oceania.

According to Nokia’s Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Nishant Batra, the metaverse will have the greatest initial impact on industries rather than consumers, with a consumer metaverse not expected to take off until 2030. It is projected that by next year, five times more revenue will be spent on the industrial metaverse compared to the consumer or enterprise metaverse.

Ports have begun using digital twins to track every container on their docks, no matter how deeply they are buried in stacks. Aerospace companies are building engines and fuselages in the digital world to simulate exactly how an aircraft will fly – long before they tool its first mechanical part, wrote Batra in a Jan. 13 WEF op-ed.

Joyce mentioned in his Cointelegraph interview that researchers from the University of Technology Sydney’s brewery tech lab have been collaborating with researchers from Dortmund University in Germany via augmented reality (AR).

They actually do joint experiments where they brew beer, they change the process, the temperature, the timings, the volumes, the recipes […] and they feed back all of that brewing process into the digital twin, he explained.

Joyce stated that in South Australia, Nokia is exploring the use of the metaverse to support Cessna aircraft technicians at remote airports. He explained how the company collaborated with a firm that utilized a virtual Cessna aircraft, allowing technicians to receive audio instructions through their earpiece as they perform maintenance tasks, such as changing wheels or engine parts, on the virtual aircraft.

When asked about the role of blockchain in the future of the metaverse, Joyce expressed confidence that the technology will play a crucial part when it comes to payments or asset transfers. According to him, Blockchain will be a crucial element for ensuring integrity within the metaverse when payments or asset transfers are involved.

“If I was going to buy a house next to Snoop Dogg’s and want to ensure that it couldn’t be lifted and shifted and copied, that’s where blockchain is quite useful in terms of maintaining uniqueness in a digital space.” he said.