Today, the large majority of personal and professional activity occurs via a computer or telephone screen in a digital format. Over the next decade, this digital layer of our lives will further develop into a concept known as the metaverse. The metaverse will provide unprecedented opportunities for innovation and economic development. People and communities will be able to collaborate on a global basis, on both economic and social objectives. Existing constraints of physical geography will become much less important.

The University’s Department of Digital Innovation and its affiliated Institute For the Future recently announced the UNIC Open Metaverse Initiative, a new comprehensive initiative focused on the academic, research and policy issues relating to the metaverse, with a particular emphasis on open public systems and standards. This initiative builds on UNIC’s eight-year track record as the leading university in blockchain and crypto-assets.

As we move towards extended reality worlds fueled by decentralized technologies, the initiative aims to build new academic/training programmes, pioneer research toward open and interoperable architectures, foster innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as support NFTs on campus.

• An online 12-week course “Introduction to NFTs and the Metaverse” starting in Spring 2022. The course will be taught by UNIC faculty with guest interventions/ lectures by leading NFT creators and collectors and Web 3.0 entrepreneurs and investors.
• Development of a new Master’s programme in Metaverse Systems, an interdisciplinary programme focused on preparing creators, developers, architects, social scientists, financial professionals, policymakers, and others for careers in metaverse design and management matches up with the requirements of a particular work environment or specialisation.

• The Center for an Open Metaverse (COM) – A new interdisciplinary research center within the Institute For the Future, focused on research on open metaverse systems.
• The Open Metaverse Alliance (OMA) – a consortium of universities, corporations, non-profits, and governmental organizations committed to developing an open metaverse.

• Public launch of the first cohort of UNIC incubated NFT/metaverse startups.
• Annual cohorts of NFT/metaverse startups.
• Support for emerging NFT/metaverse creators.

• The first permanent university gallery for NFTs (The Block Gallery).
• An NFT-based system for various campus activities within UNIC’s main Nicosia campus.
• The acceptance of NFTs by the University of Nicosia Foundation as donations for student scholarship and research support.