Companies in the automotive, manufacturing, transportation, supply, logistics, and energy sectors have high expectations for the metaverse.

There are still many who are not convinced of the glories of the metaverse and VR and AR in general. However, a report by Nokia and consulting firm EY shows that business leaders are convinced of the long-term potential of the metaverse in the industrial and enterprise sectors.

The report comes at a time when the hype surrounding the metaverse has made a comeback following the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro XR headset.

The two companies surveyed 860 executives from the US, UK, Brazil, Germany, Japan and South Korea, focusing on four sectors: automotive, industrial goods and manufacturing, transportation, supply chains and logistics, and energy and utilities.

Most companies will implement the metaverse within two years

Nokia found that 58% of companies investing in the metaverse have already implemented the technology at least once, and 94% of companies haven’t planned to do so within the next two years.

Almost all respondents claimed that the use of metaverse-related technology provides “additional innovative opportunities” to advance monetization and use cases within what is called Industry 4.0.

The fourth industrial revolution, which Industry 4.0 can also be described as, covers all professions, not just industry, and covers digitization, robotics, sensors, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, energy storage and so on.

Gains lots of benefits from using metaverse technology

Companies already using metaverse technology like XR headsets or digital twins identified investment reduction, sustainability, and safety as key benefits. They claimed to have achieved improvements in these areas after the implementation.

The industrial sector also claimed that XR and metaverse-enabled tools can support skills training, and promote development projects and product prototypes.

The United States and Britain lead the way

Companies from the US and UK lead the way when it comes to having implemented or tested at least one metaverse use case in industry or enterprise with 65% and 64%, respectively, followed by Brazil with 63%.

Respondents from Germany stood at 53%, while Japan and South Korea account for 49%.