Future of Digital Economy

Join us for a chat about the possible futures of the digital economy!

## About this event

The metaverse is slowly becoming more mainstream. During the last months, we have heard about it everywhere: from Mark Zuckerberg’s cyborg-like promotional videos to muli-million NFTs being sold.

The concept of online interaction environments is not completely new: for decades, mass player online videogames have brought together large communities to interact, trade, compete, have fun and share experiences in an online world. If you heard about World of Warcraft or Second Life, you know about the first steps of something similar to the metaverse. But this “new” metaverse is more “real”. There is something different about it. Contrary to previous online interactive experiences, the metaverse blurs the boundary between play and reality. With the rise of this new metaverse, we see the emergence of a growing parallel society with consequences in the real world. As we are witnessing, the metaverse might even create a new digital economy: it seems investors are willing to pay millions for virtual land, showing the impact the metaverse can have on the real estate business.

We are fascinated by the potential and limit of the metaverse, and invite you to join us on April 25 for an evening of learning and discussing this curious development. Specifically, we will explore the future of the digital economy.

We are once more collaborating with Speculative Futures Rotterdam to listen to different perspectives about the ongoing developments on the metaverse related to the digital economy, their impacts on society, and our futures.

Two inspiring speakers will share their perspectives on this topic:

🎤 Majken Overgaard will talk about the connection between metaverse, art and sharing economies. What happens when we move away from the sharing economy where there are new possibilities for decentralized participation and leadership? How can the art world provide perspectives on the possible future, more from a user/consumer perspective to a community-led world?

Majken is heading a center for art and technology and is furthermore teaching at the IT University of Copenhagen, where she is focusing on the development of future sustainable companies - with a specific focus on the blockchain, NFTs and DAOs. She has participated in various round tables about sharing economies and has written for the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies shedding light on what NFTs actually are (page 66 of this report).

🎤 Aurore Geraud will discuss how the metaverse is bringing a human touch to technology and how, if it’s well thought through, it could be used as a tool to positively impact Society.

Aurore is a senior researcher for L'Atelier BNP Paribas, a foresight company and an independent subsidiary of the financial group. She's a former journalist and, today, she uses her investigative skills to research emerging technologies and their unforeseen opportunities. Her main domain of expertise is virtual environments and their potential positive impact on Society.

When? On April 25 2022 from 19h to 20h.
Where? Online, we will share a link!