There has been a huge amount of speculation, discussion and pure hype around the metaverse concept, ever since Facebook changed its actual corporate name to Meta and placed the new label on a conglomeration of trends in extended reality, AI/ML, advanced graphics and digital/physical blending. Most of the conversation has focused primarily on the seamless integration of those digital and physical worlds in terms of consumer experiences, from fully immersive gaming and interacting to a whole fully blended life. But many of the more serious use cases that are being conceived actually relate to industrial or B2B applications – hence the term ‘industrial metaverse’ has inevitably been coined, and forms part of the technology roadmaps for companies from Nokia to…