A group of the most prominent business leaders in Australia have gathered to create The Australian Metaverse Advisory Council (AMAC), with the aim of advancing the adoption of virtual applications within the country.
The AMAC was also established due to the growing interest in the metaverse, which led to a need for an independent advisory body capable of representing and advocating for the country’s interest in the metaverse, an idea that was inspired thanks to similar efforts from other nations.
The main objective of the AMAC is to grow and expand Australia’s metaverse industry and subsequently consider the opportunities and challenges that are found in virtual reality.
“As Australian organisations address the complexity of the metaverse, the need for an independent advisory group to represent and advocate local interests has become increasingly apparent,” AMAC wrote in a blog post. “To this end, the objective of AMAC is to grow the Australian metaverse industry through articulating its benefits and potential pitfalls, and building relationships across enterprise, academic and government sectors.”
Building the metaverse
Currently, the council includes notable individuals like Angus Stevens, CEO and co-founder of VR and AR studio Start Beyond; Patricia Haueiss, an expert in the metaverse, Web3, and AI consulting, and a member of Australia’s Top 100 Innovators; and Oliver Weidlich, founder and director of design and innovation at Contextual. Together with six more industry experts, they’ll have a pivotal part in AMAC’s activities.
Also, AMAC made its official debut last week at SXSW Sydney 2023, a city-wide music festival, a hub for futurist thinking, and a showcase for next-generation technology.
The establishment of AMAC shows that Australians are becoming more curious about the metaverse and what the nascent space can do for the country. However, other nations are also seeing the opportunities and challenges that the metaverse provides and are taking steps to address them.
For instance, the United Arab Emirates recently introduced a ‘Responsible Metaverse Self-Governance Framework’ to make the metaverse safer and more responsible by focusing on privacy, transparency, and inclusivity. Likewise, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed a three-year plan to boost metaverse innovation in different fields, especially in terms of security and technological advancements.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
