Liaison statement
LS on new ITU-T Focus Group on metaverse (FG-MV) [to all ITU-T SGs, ITU-R SG5 and various external organizations]

Abstract: This liaison statement announces the creation by TSAG of new ITU-T
Focus Group on metaverse (FG-MV).

The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (ITU-T TSAG), at its
12-16 December 2022 meeting, created a new ITU-T Focus Group on metaverse
(FG-MV) in accordance with Recommendation ITU-T A.7, chaired by Mr Shin-Gak
KANG (ETRI, Republic of Korea), with Vice-Chairmen Ms Shane HE (Nokia
Corporation, Finland), Mr Hideo IMANAKA (National Institute of Information and
Communication Technology – NICT, Japan), Mr Per FRÖJDH (Telefon AB – LM
Ericsson, Sweden), Mr Andrey PEREZ (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações –
ANATEL, Brazil), Mr Vincent AFFLECK (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport – DCMS, United Kingdom), and Mr Yuntao WANG (Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology – MIIT, China P.R.).

The objective of ITU-T Focus Groups is to help advance the work of the ITU
Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) study groups and to encourage
the participation of members of other standards organizations, including
experts and individuals who may not be members of ITU.

The new FG-MV will report to TSAG and operate for an initial term of one year
with the terms of reference attached (see Annex).

The FG-MV plans its inaugural meeting to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
(Kingdom of) in the first quarter 2023. More information will be available from
the FG-MV home page at https://itu.int/go/fgmv, such as upcoming meeting
information, instructions on joining the group's mailing list and on accessing
its collaboration area.

Participation in ITU-T Focus Groups is open to all interested experts coming
from a country that is a member of ITU. The new FG-MV looks forward to
cooperating with you.

Annex

Terms of reference of the ITU-T Focus Group on metaverse (FG-MV)

1  Rationale and scope
Recently, metaverse has become one disruptive area of innovation with great
potential to change our economy, way of living and communicating and society.
In this nascent phase of the metaverse, the industry has not converged towards
common terms and definitions. The metaverse concept has attracted considerable
public attention. Bloomberg analysts  have suggested the total market value of
the metaverse as the world's "next big technology platform" could reach USD 800
billion by 2024, doubling its value seen in 2020.

This Focus Group provides a collaboration platform for dialogue, for
identifying stakeholders with whom ITU-T could collaborate, and for enabling
the inclusion of non-members to contribute to the technical pre-standardization
work. The Focus Group work will be enriched with the identification of relevant
use cases.

Focus Group will consider the following aspects for pre-standardization work of
the metaverse:

–       working definitions and terminology, concepts, vision, use cases and
ecosystem; –       technical requirements; –       technical framework and
characteristics, including identification of fundamental underlying
technologies; –       security and personally identifiable information (PII)
protection related aspects; –       networking infrastructure and connectivity;
–       interoperability; –       application interfaces; –       accessibility
including persons with disabilities; –       gap analysis of standardization
activities in other standardization bodies, including terminology and
principles used in ISO and IEC; –       economic aspects and regulatory
implications; –       environmental sustainability.

2  Objectives
The objective of the focus group is to support pre-standardisation activities,
including the following:

a) To study terminology, concepts, vision and ecosystem.

b) To identify and study the enabling technologies, their evolution and key
tasks for standardization purposes, including multimedia, network optimization,
connectivity, interoperability of services and applications, security,
protection of personally identifiable information, quality (including
bandwidth), digital assets (e.g., digital currencies), IoT, accessibility,
digital twin and environmental sustainability.

c) To study and gather information to develop a pre-standardization roadmap.

d) To build a community of experts and practitioners to unify the concepts,
develop common understandings, so that it be benefiting not only the ITU
standardization scene but also the global community.

e) To identify stakeholders with whom ITU-T could collaborate and establish
liaisons and relationships with other organisations that could contribute to
the pre-standardisation activities and identify potential collective action and
specific next steps.

f) To stimulate international collaboration, to share knowledge and best
practices, and to explore the opportunities and challenges related to
interoperability.

g) To provide a platform to share findings and for dialogue on economic, policy
and regulatory implications of metaverse related to telecommunication/ICT.

3 Specific tasks and deliverables
The FG is expected to provide its deliverables to TSAG in time for its January
2024 meeting for its consideration and action, as appropriate (e.g.,
distribution to SGs for their consideration on starting new work).

a) To develop deliverables related to working definitions and terminology, use
cases, and requirements.

b) To develop deliverables with guidelines and collection of best practices,
including a gap analysis and a pre-standardization roadmap.

c) To develop deliverables related to technical frameworks, and architecture,
taking into consideration security requirements and approaches, PII protection
and design principles to meet accessibility requirements.

d) To organize and participate in workshops to share and collect knowledge and
experience from a wide range of expert community and stakeholders.

e) Upon completion of its lifetime, to provide the final report and a complete
set of deliverables to TSAG.

4 Relationships
The Focus Group will work through co-located meetings with relevant ITU-T SGs
when possible. It will establish and maintain task-appropriate collaboration
arrangements with other partners as well.

The Focus Group will collaborate with:
–       ITU-T SG2 – Operational aspects
–       ITU-T SG3 – Economic & policy issues
–       ITU-T SG5 – Environment, EMF & circular economy
–       ITU-T SG9 – Broadband cable & TV
–       ITU-T SG11 – Protocols, testing & combating counterfeiting
–       ITU-T SG12 – Performance, QoS & QoE
–       ITU-T SG13 – Future networks
–       ITU-T SG16 – Multimedia & digital technologies
–       ITU-T SG17 – Security
–       ITU-T SG20 – IoT, smart cities & communities

Furthermore, the Focus Group will collaborate (as required) with other relevant
groups and entities, in accordance with Recommendation ITU-T A.7. These include
governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), policy makers, SDOs,
industry forums and consortia, companies, academic institutions, research
institutions and other relevant organizations, inter alia:

–       ITU-R SG5 – Systems and networks for fixed, mobile, radiodetermination,
amateur and amateur-satellite services –       IEC TC57 – Power systems
management and associated information exchange –       IEC TC65 – Industrial
process measurement, control and automation –       IEC TC79 – Alarm and
electronic security systems –       IEC TC85 – Measuring equipment for
electrical and electromagnetic quantities –       IEC TC93 – Design automation
–       IEC TC100 – Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment –      
IEC TC110 – Electronics displays –       ISO/TC68/SC8 – Reference data for
financial services –       ISO/TC69 – Applications of statistical methods –    
  ISO/TC133 – Clothing sizing systems – Size designation, size measurement
methods and digital fittings –       ISO/TC184/SC4 – Industrial data –      
ISO/TC307 – Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies –       ISO/IEC JTC
1 – Information technology –       ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC24/WG6 – Computer graphics,
image processing and environmental data representation –       ISO/IEC JTC
1/SC27 – Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection –      
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC29 – Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia
information –       ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC38 – Cloud computing and distributed
platforms –       ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC41 – Internet of things and digital twin –   
   ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC42 – Artificial intelligence –       ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC43 –
Brain computer interfaces –       ISO and IEC Joint Standardization Evaluation
Group (JSEG) on metaverse –       IEEE-SA Metaverse Standards Committee –      
IEEE Computer Society SAB SC Metaverse SG (MSG) –       W3C (Open) Metaverse
Interoperability (OMI) Community Group –       IETF –       ETSI ISG Augmented
Reality Framework –       3GPP SA –       Metaverse Standardization Forum (MSF)

5  Structure
The Focus Group may establish sub-groups if needed.

6  Parent group
The parent group of the Focus Group is TSAG.

7  Leadership
See clause 2.3 of Recommendation ITU-T A.7.

8  Participation
See clause 3 of Recommendation ITU-T A.7. A list of participants will be
maintained for reference purposes and reported to the parent group.

9  Administrative support
See clause 5 of Recommendation ITU-T A.7.

10  General financing
See clauses 4 and 10.2 of Recommendation ITU-T A.7.

11  Meetings
The Focus Group will conduct regular meetings. The frequency and locations of
meetings will be determined by the Focus Group management. The overall meetings
plan will be announced after the approval of the terms of reference. The Focus
Group will use remote collaboration tools to the maximum extent.

The meeting dates will be announced by electronic means (e.g., e-mail and
website, etc.) at least four weeks in advance.

12  Technical contributions
See clause 8 of Recommendation ITU-T A.7.

13  Working language
The working language is English.

14  Approval of deliverables
Approval of deliverables shall be taken by consensus.

15  Working guidelines
Working procedures shall follow the procedures of Rapporteur meetings. No
additional working guidelines are defined.

16  Progress reports
See clause 11 of Recommendation ITU-T A.7.

17  Announcement of Focus Group formation
The formation of the Focus Group will be announced via TSB Circular to all ITU
membership, via the ITU-T News log, press releases and other means, including
communication with the other involved organizations.

18  Milestones and duration of the Focus Group
The Focus Group lifetime is set for one year from the first meeting with
possibility of extension. Any extension beyond the above-mentioned date is
subject to the decision by TSAG, in line with ITU-T A.7.

19  Patent policy
See clause 9 of Recommendation ITU-T A.7.