Fulfilling the vision and promise of an open Metaverse will require participation from developers, engineers, academics, thought leaders and others from around the world. Following the launch of the Open Metaverse Foundation (OMF), the open source foundation was formally introduced in the Asia Pacific region, attracting the attention of government officials, industry leaders, and the developer community at large.
Royal O’Brien, executive director of OMF, met with the Mayor of Shanghai, Gong Zheng, to discuss the need for open source software, specifications, and interoperability as foundational elements of a truly open, global, and scalable Metaverse.
Shortly after, Royal and OMF China Director, Keith Chan, introduced OMF and rallied the Open Metaverse developer community at Open MetaCon, part of the Global AI Developer Conference (GAIDC) held in Shanghai. They also participated in the first-ever Linux Foundation Leadership Summit in the Asia Pacific region, advocating for OMF as well as the Open 3D Foundation (O3DF), which are both part of the Linux Foundation.
Royal and Keith were supported by OMF founding members Futurewei and Guangdong Digital Research Institute (GDRI), part of Guangdong University of Technology.
“Futurewei believes in the power of open source and open collaboration,” Anni Lai, Head of Open Source Operations and Marketing at Futurewei, said when OMF was announced. “We’re excited to engage in building the Open Metaverse Foundation community to extend initiatives we already have underway in XR, Web3, mobile gaming, and more.”
Royal O’Brien added, “Creating an open Metaverse for all will require a collective, global effort, and our team is encouraged by the support and engagement they have received from government and industry leaders as well as the extended developer community in Asia Pacific.”
