What does the metaverse mean for your business? Wharton just launched a course for that

As more and more industries embrace the metaverse (or whatever stage of the Internet of Things-connected space we’re currently in), you might be wondering how you gain skills for this future of the web.

The Wharton School has an answer.

Penn’s business school announced Tuesday that its Aresty Institute of Executive Education has launched an online program, Business in the Metaverse Economy, which will discuss the technologies and economic factors that drive development of the metaverse. The course will also cover how firms and creators will gain value in the metaverse in the coming years.

Per Wharton, the program’s designers looked at research showing that while augmented reality and virtual reality markets that contribute to the metaverse stand to be multi-trillion dollar industries by 2030, senior executives still have concerns with incorporating the metaverse into their companies. Those surveyed cited an uncertain return on investment for the technology, the inability to design a suitable business model, and the lack of managerial capability to implement a related strategy into their business.

Professor Kevin Werbach, the Business in the Metaverse Economy program’s academic director, said Wharton built the program for business pros and executives from backgrounds including finance, management and tech.

“The metaverse is a significant and broad phenomenon that is still poorly understood,” Werbach said in a statement. “We hope to equip business leaders, consultants, and entrepreneurs with an understanding of the impending opportunities the metaverse brings, as well as the practical knowledge to build solutions of value.”

The program aims to show business leaders the framework to develop the strategies that will allow them to capture a part of this growing market, Wharton said. The program will look at six industry case studies and include more than 50 lecture videos with Wharton faculty and industry experts on using emerging technologies in legacy enterprises, startups, B2C and B2B settings. Wharton developed the curriculum with the Prysm Group, an economic consulting firm that the school worked with to develop its blockchain and digital assets certificate program.

“From folks interested in learning how the metaverse is going to be the new evolution of the mobile internet to those looking to develop their own solutions leveraging the unique opportunities the metaverse brings to engage with customers in novel ways, this program focuses on the business value this mix of emerging technologies is going to deliver to companies globally,” said Guido Molinari, managing partner at Prysm.

The first cohort will start Sept. 12 and run for six weeks. It calls for eight to 10 hours a week of group discussions, instructor-lead sessions, immersive metaverse experiences and networking events. The course runs participants $4,500. Wharton says it’s the first Ivy League business school to host such a program.