The Bicocca University of Milan opens up to the Metaverse
Investing in the metaverse requires more rules. The doubts of Italian companies
Italian companies believe in the metaverse. 30% of them has already invested or plans to invest in the adoption of key emerging technologies (in line with international trends) and over 40% believe the average revenue growth rate in the metaverse over the next 10 years will be over 40%.
This is what emerges from the report “Web 3.0: Metaverse and NFT”, created by EY, in collaboration with the Luiss Guido Carli Research Center in Strategic Change, interviewing over 100 CEOs and top managers of some of the most important Italian and foreign companies.
The aim of the research was to investigate the impact of Web 3.0, with particular focus on the metaverse and NFTs, on businesses and the resulting challenges and implications of a legal and tax nature. What emerges is the potential of Web 3.0 in shaping the future business models of companies, but also the need for more organic regulation to ensure that they can fully take advantage of its opportunities.
“The innumerable fields of application of Metaverso and NFT give rise to the need to implement a substantial legal framework in the near future” says Stefania Radoccia, managing partner of the EY law and tax firm, “to provide certainty in all legal situations that will manifest themselves in virtual worlds. Necessity highlighted by 64% of the managers interviewed who believe that governments should do more regarding the regulation of the metaverse and which is also demonstrated by the caution in investments by the CEOs interviewed: only 6% expect to invest more than 50% of the budget at their disposal for experimentation in the metaverse”.
But what does it take to ensure successful execution of a metaverse strategy? “It is necessary to invest in the development of new soft skills” says Paolo Boccardelli, Director of the “Franco Fontana” Research Center in Strategic Change at Luiss University, “particularly in the field of blockchain, electronic payments, cybersecurity, but also legal, risk analysis and compliance. 42% of those interviewed highlighted that it is also essential to invest in employee training, as proof of the importance of the human factor for the application of emerging technologies and the development of the metaverse”.
However, the propensity is to invest with caution: only 28% of those interviewed intend to invest more than 15% of the budget in experimenting with new solutions in the metaverse and 19% plan to invest more than 200,000 euros during 2023 to start new projects and adopt new solutions in the metaverse.
However, there is no shortage of criticisms, perplexities and doubts about Web 3.0, to be found in a series of factors: the presence of huge investment costs coupled with a possible uncertainty of the relative revenues; the lack of clarity about the real potential and associated opportunities; the need to invest in the development of new skills and the absence of adequate legislation. In particular, 64% of those interviewed believe that governments should further regulate the market, as current legislation is not fully adequate to respond to the various scenarios enabled by Web 3.0.
According to 48% of the sample, although it is a market still in the expansion phase, NFTs offer an important opportunity for revenue growth and have already proven to be a reality with significant potential in various areas of application.
In particular, three main areas of application have been identified: copyright, collecting and marketing. Conversely, 38% of respondents do not consider NFTs a technology to explore and invest in, as they have a too volatile market and therefore little added value. Finally, 14% of the top managers interviewed highlight that the lack of knowledge of NFTs makes them unattractive for making investments.
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