Metaverse Units are the new Innovation Labs

Do you remember a couple of years back when every big organization spent a ton of money to build an “Innovation Lab”?

“Labs where teams could utilize the latest creative approaches to product and service design in fun and engaging environments!”

Design Thinking! Prototyping! Agile!

It didn’t turn out too well. About 2 years after the stream of press releases that “Brand X opened an Innovation Lab in Hip City,” most of these labs were quietly closed. Why? I’ll let AJ&Smart rant about it for two minutes:

If you want your organization to be more innovative, you need to make the whole organization more innovative. That means mandating everybody to innovate, regardless of business unit, function, or position, bringing innovation practices and methodologies into all aspects of your business. You cannot delegate this to an external lab because it is extremely challenging to eventually transfer knowledge and practices back to the rest of the organization. Innovation cannot be a cost center, otherwise you could just buy it from Amazon.

The whole circus was eventually called “Innovation Theater” — a cargo cult of people in shiny offices, building a replica of innovation in the hopes that the rest of the organization would somehow become better.

As said, it didn’t turn out too well and organizations eventually stopped.

Welcome back, old friend

But for everybody that missed the quirky, colorful office spaces with the nice coffee machines and (temporarily) unlimited budgets, I’m happy to tell you that innovation labs are back with a new branding: It’s the Metaverse, baby!

I see a lot of organizations breathlessly pushing press releases and job openings about their new Metaverse units. Likewise, I have received multiple recruiter requests to build up or be part of a new Metaverse unit within [insert brand name here].

The pitch seemed familiar:

“Labs where teams can utilize the latest Metaverse technologies in fun and engaging environments!”

Virtual Reality! Web3! Blockchain! NFTs!

This will not turn out well.

Who are you reporting to?

You can cut through the performativity with the same question as with innovation labs: “Who is this team reporting to?”

If the answer is: “This is a dedicated Metaverse innovation team reporting to the CTO / CIO”, then run.

If it’s “We’re having a new Chief Metaverse Officer!” then run faster.

Other typical signs are job descriptions full of technology buzzwords like: “Blockchains, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, smart contracts, dApps, wallets” or ideologies like: “Web3, decentralization, DAOs, play to earn.” Run and don’t look back.

If they quote Neuromancer or Snow Crash, run as fast as you can.

This is yet another silo — a simulacrum of the Metaverse, filled with shiny avatar totems to appease the gods of technology, driven by the fear of missing out.

The Metaverse as Actuation

A good answer would be: “The team is deeply integrated into our design / production / service teams, and they act as local guides, consultants and enablers.”

This might be a team of experts, distributed throughout the organization, supporting individual groups, units, and positions, bringing practices and methodologies around (in this case) the Metaverse stack into all aspects of the organization, to be used directly where it is needed.

They look inwards, trying to answer:

“How do we use the Metaverse to improve our core business?”

For example, using Metaverse technologies to track the operational efficiency of production machines and factory lines. Building Digital Twins to contextualize how machines, people, and processes work together to gain further insights. Using Machine Learning to use historic data to make predictions about the future, for example predictive maintenance. Allow field workers to see and act upon this data right at the machines when looking at it. Let co-workers come together to discuss and solve challenges, regardless of their actual location. Use technologies like Virtual Reality for training complex scenarios in safe spaces. Use Mixed Reality to support them with spatial guidance.

These Metaverse use cases are part of the digital transformation journey, targeted at the core business of the organization, influencing profit, profitability, efficiency, or other business fundamentals.

If this seems “boring”, then this is exactly the point. If innovative digital paradigms become a mundane part of your organization, then your digital transformation succeeded.

The Metaverse as Inspiration

Another, less good, but still sensible answer would be: “The team is reporting to marketing / PR.”

This might be a team of communications and creative technology experts, supporting the marketing teams in creating exciting experiences, and the PR team in crafting narratives or responding to hype-cycles.

They look outwards, trying to answer:

“How do we use the Metaverse to improve our image in the market?”

For example, using Metaverse technologies to create an exciting demo or prototype that can be used as part of marketing campaigns or during an event. Craft partnerships with other Metaverse agencies to organize experiences to generate awareness, for example virtual concerts with celebrities, virtual art or fashion shows, or in-game crossovers. Create NFTs, avatars or other kinds of digital collectibles based on the brand. Stay up to date with the current hype-cycles and exploit the latest trends as needed. They might even generate new / separate streams of revenue, but usually insignificant compared to the core business.

These Metaverse use cases are part of PR or marketing efforts, trying to influence the brand, growth, and long-term risk factors of an organization.

If this seems “flashy, but superficial”, then this is exactly the point. The goal is to “cash in” on the hype and get access to resources, either investor money or new talents.

This answer is less good, because such a team will only work as long as “the Metaverse” is usable as a hype / narrative. At some point the “Next Big Thing” will come along, making your experts in Metaverse marketing redundant.

Summary

Utilizing the Metaverse trend is fine — if it serves a purpose:

• EITHER you build up knowledge to use the Metaverse to improve your core business, with experts supporting the respective teams directly
• OR you use the Metaverse as a narrative to improve your image in the market, with experts supporting marketing or PR

Don’t confuse the two. Your team of creative technologists pumping out prototype experiences won’t be able to also work on your factory production technology. Likewise, don’t think your team of productivity specialists is also able to create a nice gold idea for the next campaign. Pick one. Or build up two teams.

But: Please don’t repeat the whole Innovation Theater debacle. Don’t get triggered by a new set of complicated terminology. Don’t act because you read a lot of press releases mentioning your competition. Don’t panic because a consultancy throws around big numbers in hypothetical revenue potential.

Relax. Focus on a desired outcome, set specific company milestones, and add abilities accordingly.