Meta to set up 'metaverse academy' in France

Meta, the holding company behind Facebook, has collaborated with a French digital training firm to launch a “metaverse academy” in France for the new academic year, according to an AFP report.

The school’s major aim in its first year will be to train for free around 100 student in two roles including specialist immersive technology developers and support and assistance technicians, Meta’s vice president for southern Europe, Laurent Solly told AFP.

The teaching techniques will be in-person and focus around projects, with an emphasis on the 3D world and interactions in the virtual universes, AFP quoted Frederic Bardeau, co-founder and boss of Simplon, the French firm working with Meta as saying.

Mark Zuckerberg has been working on certain metaverse endeavours since he has changed the company’s name from Facebook to Meta.

The company has announced on Friday, June 10 that it is adding the ability for users to socialise in its metaverse, dubbed Horizon Worlds, through an update to its virtual reality headset, the Oculus Quest 2.

This update will apparently allow users to interact with each other, thereby getting a closer feel of the ‘metaverse’ experience that Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg — and almost everyone else in the technology industry, have been talking about.

Also, Meta Platforms is reportedly planning to make its smart screen device, Portal, an enterprise-only product that can be used by businesses for conference calls, a person familiar with the matter told The Verge.

This was first reported by the Information on June 9, which also said that Meta is scaling back its plans to launch AR glasses, codenamed Project Nazare. The reason for the scale back is the mounting investor concerns over the huge investments made in hardware projects including Portal without any strong returns.