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Metaverse or flopverse? Why only 10 percent of companies really benefit!

Zukunft strategisch gestalten – Blogreihe zum Metaverse
Back in 2013, when I first started digging into immersive technologies, the early building blocks of what we now call the Metaverse; the consensus was that it was a gimmick. Most people saw Virtual Reality (VR) as a toy for gamers or a niche tool for personal entertainment. But I couldn't shake the feeling that we were looking at something much bigger: a new industrial frontier that could push human visualization and imagination past their natural limits..
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Beyond Simulations: The Human in Digital Interaction Worlds

| 10. März 2026 | Kommentare

Zukunft strategisch gestalten – Blogreihe zum Metaverse
A worker stands in front of a workstation. Through an XR interface, instructions appear step by step; an avatar provides guidance. The digital twin of the process is precise, machines, parts, and workflows are represented. Then the interaction begins to strain, attention shifts, information density increases, and cognitive workload builds up.

This situation highlights a broader shift. Virtual worlds and Extended Reality are no longer just visualisations or simulations; they are digital interaction spaces in which humans are embedded as part of the system. This applies to Industry 5.0 workers, operators, and collaborators across many domains. If humans are part of these interaction worlds, then modelling only machines and processes is not sufficient. The human must also be part of the digital representation.

Cognitive‑inspired Human Digital Twins focus on integrating human states, such as attention and cognitive workload, into digital interaction worlds, acknowledging that full human simulation remains a complex, multi‑disciplinary research challenge. This perspective opens a path toward Human Digital Twins that aim to represent and respond to how humans actually interact within virtual environments.
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