At our Roundtable hosted by Vasakronan and co-facilitated by Flowpass and Virtway at Arena Sergel we where future-gazing into the “Metaverse of work” with our Initiators on the 22nd of Sept.
We were familiarized with a concept called the ‘Metaverse’ which the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerburg refers to as an “embodied internet”.
Facebook is currently investing 20% of its workforce to develop the metaverse so whether we like it or not, the metaverse is coming.
How does this technology impact the future of work? How do we need to adapt? What other trends and technologies will shape our future workplaces? Those were some of the questions we discussed during the session and on the following dinner mingle.
Flowpass guided and facilitated us through the session and shared their view on “The Metaverse of Work” before we had group discussion and conversations. We ended the session with a joint dinner in the lounge at Arena Sergel.
KEY TAKE-AWAYS FROM THE DAY
- Implications of the Metaverse
We’ve already seen the Smartphone revolutionize how we work, and so will the metaverse. The Metaverse is a virtuall place with many qualities that will resemble the physical world. Location will be just as important in the virtuall world as in the real world. What will the price tag be of a prime location in the virtual world? Everything needs to be designed, from your own avatar to the tiniest piece of grass, so digital assets will boom. How will all of this impact your industry? Which digital assets will you need and create?
- How to Shape the ‘Third Workplace’
A third workplace which is neither home nor the office, such as coworking or hotel lobbies. The third workplace fulfils a need you do not get from working at home, which is mostly the social interactions. How will HR departments tackle this new challenge of the distributed workplace? How will companies manage to cater for the increased demand for flexibility whilst also maintaining a connection to the company and amongst colleagues?
- A Model for Creating a New Workplace Strategy
How do we embrace new technologies and form the new workplace of the future?
We discussed the new workplace strategy based on a workplace model including four main components; People, Place, Digital and Process. How do you choose the right workplace strategy for your company and how do you implement it? Those were some of the challenges discussed using the model to guide the discussions.
- The Development of Smart Offices
How will the new office – the Smart Office look like? We got a deep-dive into some of the existing technologies, such as hand scanning, mixed reality and in-meeting translation technologies. We also glimpsed into the future discussing emerging trends and increased demand on mobility, such as pay-as-you-go micro offices and being able to work in a self-driving car.
Thank you to the team at Vasakronan, Flowpass and Virtway for hosting an exhilarating day filled with inspiration and future-gazing! As always, thank you to all the members who participated in the discussions and shared their own experiences and learnings from working during the pandemic. Together we formed some interesting ideas on the future of work and how we can apply them to our own workplaces.
Documentation from the session can be found here on the website for our Members. If you have forgot the password just email susanne.fuglsang@innovationpioneers.net and I will send it to you.