Information

The Nordic Virtual Worlds Network (NVWN) project is a pan-Nordic, inter-disciplinary project focused on investigating entrepreneurship and innovation in relation to virtual worlds. The project runs from March 1, 2010 to February 28, 2012 and has a budget of approximately NOK 6 mln. The project’s primary financier is the Nordic Innovation Center (NICe).

Project Objectives

The Nordic Virtual Worlds Network Project has two main objectives:
1) The first objective is to explore how SMEs and entrepreneurs globally are using and could use Virtual Worlds (VWs) to improve their competitiveness. We examine how both formal and informal work and business processes may be transformed, such as product and service design, customer and supplier interaction, and learning and training. We investigate what appears to be “effective” use of  VWs, and our ambition is to offer organizations joining our project access to state-of-the-art knowledge related to VWs globally, including predictions of a 3D internet as the next step beyond VWs. We offer the  possibility to actively participate in activities designed by the project to investigate entrepreneurship and innovation in VWs. Participating organizations may be those already active in VWs or those who want to explore emerging communication platforms and understand how “start-up” initiatives and established organization use VWs.

2) The second objective is to create a Virtual Center for VW Entrepreneurship & Innovation in order to stimulate and facilitate knowledge and resource sharing and networking among individuals and organizations interested in VWs. Since VWs appeal to a wide variety of natural and social science disciplines, many VW efforts are conducted in innocent isolation from one another, thus leading to the reinvention of the wheel, wasted resources and lost innovation opportunities. We also plan to connect to leading VW actors in Silicon Valley and other locations to improve knowledge transfer as well as business opportunity development. Thus, organizations involved in the NWN project will be exposed to a network of organizations and individuals active, not only in the Nordic region, but also globally.  We will also share our insights into work and communicative practices in a variety of industries and VWs with the network.