Building the Industrial Metaverse: Facilitating Secure and Efficient Digital Twin Transactions
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2025-06
Author(s)
Abstract
The Industrial Metaverse merges physical and digital realms, transforming industrial processes through technologies like Digital Twins. This study explores the building blocks of an Industrial Metaverse platform ecosystem, enabling secure, efficient, and collaborative Digital Twin transactions. Defined as an immersive space for interaction, collaboration, and value exchange, the Industrial Metaverse offers opportunities for innovation and sustainability. We outline five evolutionary stages of Digital Twins—from reverse-engineered to incentivized—highlighting their transformation from static tools to dynamic digital assets. This evolution enables secure transactions, protects intellectual property, supports cross-organizational collaboration, and turns Digital Twins into valuable economic assets. These advancements unlock decentralized manufacturing, enhanced customer engagement, and co-creation, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals by fostering resilient infrastructure and sustainable innovation. Using insights from 54 industry interviews and an inductive approach, we identify three critical dimensions of the Industrial Metaverse: technological interoperability, trust mechanisms, and economic incentives. Managers must embrace cultural shifts toward openness, intellectual property sharing, and collaboration while addressing challenges like interoperability and stakeholder readiness. This paper provides a roadmap for leveraging Digital Twins within the Industrial Metaverse and highlights areas for further research, including governance, mechanisms, and industrial transformation, advancing both theory and practice.
Language
English
Keywords
Industrial Metaverse
Digital Twins
Platform ecosystem
Event Title
European Academy of Management (EURAM) 2025 Annual Conference
Event Location
University of Florence, Italy
Event Date
22.-25.06.2025
Subject(s)
Division(s)