The second edition of the Metaverse Festival promoted by ANGI – National Association of Young Innovators, staged in the Nuvola Lavazza location with the elite of the institutions and opinion leaders of the Italian and European innovation ecosystem, was a success with audiences and contents. The milestone of 5,000 people in attendance during the Festival and over 500 thousand unique users during the live streaming was reached and exceeded. “It was a truly extraordinary second edition both for the incredible number of attendances and for those connected remotely – said the President of ANGI, Gabriele Ferrieri – We gathered some of the major opinion leaders, national and international, on the world of virtual reality and artificial intelligence, creating a very important discussion with the highest local, national and European institutional authorities. On this occasion we launched our appeal to the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to increase the commitment to supporting young people, startups and investments in research, points that we believe are fundamental for the development and growth of our country’s ecosystem” .
The central element of the work was the presentation of the data from the ANGI Ricerche Observatory in collaboration with the demoscopic institute Lab21.01 created in September 2023, on the occasion of the second edition of the Metaverse Festival organized by ANGI (National Association of Youth Innovators), a demographic survey through the administration of 1,000 valid and complete interviews to the adult Italian population with a focus dedicated to young people under 35. «One year after the first survey – explain Gabriele Ferrieri President of ANGI – National Association of Young Innovators, the prof. Roberto Baldassari Director of the ANGI Scientific Committee and Adelina Chiara Balsamo Operations Director Lab21.01 – Italians’ knowledge of the Metaverse concept is increasing: 35% of the population declares themselves aware of the meaning of the term; women recover (43%) compared to men (57%); The first thing that comes to Italians’ minds when thinking about the Metaverse is “A virtual, augmented and parallel universe” (60%) followed by the “Fusion between a video game and the real world” (26%) and the simple “Video game” (14 %).
However, there are still few people who have had an immersive experience (9%) compared to the large majority of interviewees who say they want to do it (72%) and the minority who say they are against trying the Metaverse experience (11%). Among the most used devices, “VR viewers” remain firmly in first place (43%), followed by “Personal computers” (32%) and “Smartphones and tablets” (23%). Italians are still very hesitant about the effects that could be produced by the Metaverse: 5 out of 10 Italians still do not have a firm opinion on the possible impact of the Metaverse on personal and social habits. However, young people under 35 seem to have clear ideas about the various applications: “Education and training” (31%); “Mobility, tourism and smart cities” (24%); “Social and interpersonal relationships” (18%); “Public administration and relations with citizens” (16%); “E-commerce” (11%).
But how will the Metaverse revolutionize our society? Young Italians place the possibility of “Breaking down social distancing” first (29%); followed by the increase in “Technological spaces and tools” (21%), the opportunity to create a “gender and age equality” environment (19%), “New job opportunities” (17%) and new possible ” Identity” (14%). Also very attractive this year is the possibility of the Metaverse to encourage meeting famous people or visiting distant places (90%) but, at the same time, only 3 out of 10 Italians consider the Metaverse a safe place (65% males; 35 % females – 53% under 35; 29% 36-55 years of age; 18% over 65).
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