Thailand’s 1st Metaverse Expo launches new economic era: DES minister

The metaverse is the key to linking the virtual world with the business world in order to boost people’s incomes, Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said on Friday.

Chaiwut highlighted the metaverse as a new engine of inclusive economic growth as he presided over the opening of the “Thailand Metaverse Expo 2022”.

The latest report, “The Metaverse Market In Finance by Component for 2022-2026,” states that the Metaverse market will stimulate hardware growth and software around the world, including Metaverse's financial market share that will increase to $50.37 billion between 2021- and 2026.

The report, conducted by Technavio, shows that North America will play the largest share in Metaverse adoption across industries, accounting for 32 percent of Metaverse market growth, with China and Germany also going to be important consumer countries in digital assets and blockchain technology, it is expected to contribute to growth in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

“This event is very important as it links the public and private sectors in supporting the adoption of the metaverse for our country’s economic development,” Chaiwut said.

“Metaverse is the key. If we can encourage operators do their business via the metaverse, the link between the virtual and real business worlds will boost trade, investment and revenue.”

The first “Thailand Metaverse Expo” is being held by Nation Group, in collaboration with Block Mountain and Metaverse XR, at CentralWorld from Friday to Sunday.

Visitors who attend the expo will be immersed in the full metaverse experience.

The event introduces the metaverse ecosystem via three platforms: business forum, workshops and sports metaverse.

Speakers include experts and professionals from the worlds of digital assets, non-fungible tokens (NFT), sports, start-ups, marketing technology, user experience and user interface (UX-UI).

Adisak Limparungpatanakij, deputy CEO of Nation Group Plc, said the expo will also see the launch of Nation Group’s metaverse news station and multilingual AI news reporter.

The AI Reporter was developed with Deus.works while the metaverse news station is a collaboration between OK Nation, Metaverse Thailand and Erectus.

“Over the past half-century, Nation Group has played an important role in introducing new media technology to Thai society. After print, multimedia and social media, we are now entering the world of the metaverse,” said Adisak, who heads the event’s organising committee.

Visitors will also be invited to enter the exciting universe of virtual-reality sports.

Preedok Thongwandee, president of B-Lay Plus Co Ltd, said youngsters can take part in the Sport Metaverse Challenge #1.

More than 30 booths offer the experience with Thai Metaverse Association and the Thai Digital Asset Association.

The “Thailand Metaverse Expo” runs at CentralWorld in Bangkok, from 10am to 8pm, until Sunday. Admission is free of charge.