By Josh Hatton
View original posting on The Metaverse Insider at https://metaverseinsider.tech/2023/03/03/lg-electronics-part-1-innovation-in-the-metaverse-with-dr-sokwoo-rhee/#What_is_the_initial_market_for_the_Metaverse
At The Metaverse Insider, we had the pleasure of interviewing a respective Senior VP of Innovation at LG Electronics – Sokwoo Rhee. He leads the North American Innovation Center, LG NOVA, located in Silicon Valley. LG NOVA is focused on generating new businesses for LG Electronics, a company that is valued at $70 billion and known for manufacturing appliances and TVs. Dr. Rhee’s responsibility is to develop new businesses or partner with existing ones in domains that promise future growth, such as healthcare, the Metaverse, and clean tech.
The Metaverse presents a promising platform for innovation and growth, and LG Electronics’ interest in this domain is a testament to the company’s recognition of its potential. Through collaborations with other businesses in this field or developing new Metaverse-related ventures, LG Electronics could capitalize on the unique features of the Metaverse to introduce new products and services that cater to its customers’ needs. This is truly an exciting time.
Innovation is the heart of Metaverse adoption
“Innovation, for me, is creating something new that is useful, and that is meaningful for the world – and for the people in the world. So, when I talk about it, what kind of new businesses can we create that have not existed before? That is the innovation that we do in LG Electronics.”
It is clear that without innovation, there would be no development in what we have deemed to be the ‘Metaverse’. This may seem obvious – however, with the current state of the industry, this is more difficult than many presume. As it turns out, shaping the future of the internet is not an easy feat:
“Metaverse is a buzzword as we all know, and a lot of folks are talking about the glasses, AR/VR, and the content that goes on to that and so on. So, a lot of the innovation has happened, or is happening on the device side.”
While there has been a lot of innovation happening on the hardware side, LG NOVA's focus is more on the services, platforms, and software side of the Metaverse – emphasizing the importance of infrastructure over initial experience. This has been a mistake many companies have made in the past, thus why the concept of the Metaverse has been tarnished in recent times. Experiences are bound to be underwhelming if there is not a solid infrastructure to support them:
“The market for devices will not be led by the hardware, it’s going to be led by the service that’s going to go on top of it.”
LG NOVA is interested in creating tangible services that can be used in everyday life – the market for devices will be led by the value that they can bring to people’s lives through these services. To achieve this goal, LG NOVA is looking at vertical markets in the Metaverse. Such an example includes industrial training applications:
“There’s a huge training market. So, if you are a corporation that manufactures anything, when you have a new employee or technician, you’ve got to train them. The best way to do that is to bring them to the factory and let them play with the components and all that is very expensive.”
By using virtual worlds in the Metaverse, corporations can train employees to a level of proficiency before they are brought to the actual workspace, thereby reducing training costs. This is often an overlooked application of the Metaverse – and we are very excited to see it unfold.
What is the initial market for the Metaverse?
It is clear that under many circumstances, the gaming market is the most prolific at face value; it is the most obvious market for Metaverse applications and has been the reason for many individuals becoming interested in the space:
“The gaming market is probably the largest as of right now.”
As an LG representative, Dr. Rhee suggests that they need to explore the next market beyond gaming; there are many players in the gaming market – making it exceptionally saturated. There will be a lot of potential applications in industries, and companies are beginning to realize this.
With the sheer scale of the industrial market, it is of no surprise that LG has chosen to focus on this; industrial training, factory training, and job reskilling are all possible use cases of the Metaverse – proving new opportunities for people to transition into new jobs.
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Article continues on The Metaverse Insider at https://metaverseinsider.tech/2023/03/03/lg-electronics-part-1-innovation-in-the-metaverse-with-dr-sokwoo-rhee/#What_is_the_initial_market_for_the_Metaverse
