Robert Tercek

The confluence of several now-mature technologies, including private 5G networks, real-time 3D tools, the Internet of Things, sensor networks, big data, and game engines, means that we can now build high-fidelity models of the real world. Around the world, cities and industrial concerns are launching digital twins of real-world infrastructure. Unlike the consumer Metaverse, which is designed as a platform for communication and entertainment, the Industrial Metaverse is a tool for obtaining greater efficiency and optimal performance from real-world operations in many fields: transportation, air travel, public safety, environment resource management, traffic planning, real estate development and construction, precision manufacturing, defense, energy and much more. Robert Tercek has been designing and building digital twin solutions for a decade. In this session, he will acquaint the audience with the state of the art.

Tercek’s closing keynote was called “amazing” by the host of the USC Entertainment Technology Center summit. In the race to the Metaverse, Tercek explains, today’s Internet giants seem to be hellbent on repeating the worst of the colonial era. This talk exposes the striking parallels between colonial conquest and today’s information empires of the mind.

Rob Tercek’s opening keynote speech at the 10th anniversary edition of DIG South provides the audience with a look back as well as sharp perspectives of the future. Tercek surveys the tech trends that spurred historic levels of growth during the past decade and provides four compelling scenarios that project into the next ten years. As implausible as it may seem today, the big Internet giants are determined to continue growing beyond the current valuations in the $1 to $3 trillion range. This talk reveals where that growth might come from. And it also provides a vivid explanation of the competing forces behind the drive towards decentralization and Web3 that seek to undo the domination of the planetary-scale tech giants.

Hundreds of companies have announced plans to invest, collectively, billions of dollars to construct virtual worlds known as the Metaverse. Who are these worlds for? Under what terms? What role will be assigned to the people who populate and contribute to these privately-owned worlds? This presentation, from a futurist and expert in dematerialization, applies concepts from decolonial theory to frame a critical perspective of the emerging Metaverse and to raise urgent questions about the rights and roles of those who participate.

Robert Tercek talks about the evolution of communication, the rollout of 5G and the state of digital transformation at the AT&T Business Summit.