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The European Commission launched a call for tenders for a pilot project on 12 February 2024. The pilot project aims to inform EU policy makers and stakeholders of the challenges and governance needs arising from the development of cutting-edge virtual world and web 4.0 technologies, as well as fostering a discussion on global governance with policy makers, civil society, private companies and the technical community.
The European Commission adopted a new strategy on virtual worlds and web 4.0 on 11 July 2023. The strategy aims to ensure that European citizens can safely and confidently use virtual worlds and European Businesses can develop world-leading application.
One of the policy actions in the strategy includes facilitating an open and robust global governance of Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0. The Commission services are tasked to engage with internet governance stakeholders around the world in order to start a concrete discussion around the future architecture of such governance.
This process will aim to address:
- the virtual world’s internet standardisation institutional requirements;
- the eventual technical management needs emerging from such standardisation;
- the inclusive policy debates required for a proper values-driven global transition to web 4.0.
They will facilitate the global virtual world’s governance, ensuring it integrates productively with the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance.
In contributing to the implementation of the strategy on virtual worlds and web 4.0, this pilot project aims at facilitating an open and robust global governance of virtual worlds and web 4.0 and exploring the main developments in internet technologies and blockchain that will be relevant for both the technological and institutional transitions towards web 4.0.
This pilot project also places emphasis on exploring the main developments in internet technologies and blockchain that will be relevant for both the technological and institutional transitions towards web 4.0.
This exhaustive exploratory exercise will cover issues such as emerging internet-related interoperability systems and other essential components underpinning the function of virtual worlds such as right management, economic transactions, and identity management in order to inform the policy actions of the Commission, including the global governance debate.
More information and instructions on how to submit the tender can be found on the eTendering portal.
This call is open until 18 March 2024.