Metaverse Communities

UPDATE - March 22, 2023

Thank you very much for your interest the metaverse communites challenge.  The ten grantees were selected among 370 proposals submitted from communities in 22 countries across the region. The selected community grantees are:

- Brillante, Guatemala, a speech rehabilitation app that provides teachers and parents assistance via the generation of an augmented reality stimuli solution for children with speech, language, and communication disabilities.

- Buro DAP Fundación, Colombia, that uses the metaverse to create simulators for the design of urban spaces, so they are more sustainable, safer for pedestrians, and address women’s security and the needs of people with disabilities.

- Clube da Alice, Brazil, a community of women entrepreneurs that facilitates and encourages female entrepreneurship, allowing members to connect with new clients, access free courses, events, and fairs.

- CLUMTI AC, Mexico, a community of independent developers, companies and universities working with virtual reality to improve the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SME).

- EXPYLAB, Paraguay, supports emerging creators of low-income and vulnerable populations to develop immersive reality projects by offering extended reality trainings that enable these populations to express their realities, narratives, and cultural heritages in the metaverse.

- Gran Chaco Impact NFT, Bolivia, provides a space where collectors join efforts with non-fungible tokens artists and curators to help women artisans tokenize native art pieces as digital art using virtual and augmented reality, NFTs, and blockchain to help preserve and promote native communities.

- Kodea, Chile, provides women entrepreneurs with training in computer science, digital skills mentoring, and support.

- Red de Aprendizaje Inmersivo (Rain), Ecuador, supports the use of immersive technologies to foster learning within educational settings (technological institutes and universities) and promotes the acquisition of XR related skills.

- Socialcrypto.art, Brazil, brings together artists, producers, and creators from the favelas in Rio de Janeiro who wish to digitize and commercialize their art and, thus, contribute to the socio-economic development of the favelas.

- Youth Can Do I.T. Limited (YCDI), Jamaica, provides tech education to young people as a way of opening new and decent job opportunities.

See press release for more information. 

Objective

In a joint effort, Meta and IDB Lab, the innovation lab of the Inter-American Development Bank (“IDB”) are seeking to support communities that are currently leveraging or seeking to leverage the augmented and immersive capacity of the metaverse¹ to foster greater connections with their network of members. Support will be provided directly to leaders of the selected communities² to continue developing and growing their communities in the metaverse and further their mission.

Meta and IDB Lab encourage all eligible communities in eligible countries located in Latin America and the Caribbean to apply to be considered for two distinct tiers of support. For Tier 1, Meta will provide access to training to all eligible Challenge Participants. In addition to the training, the Challenge is seeking to identify 10 community grantees who are using the metaverse to achieve positive social or economic impact in Latin America and the Caribbean.

1 The metaverse is defined as a set of interconnected digital spaces that will allow us to work, learn, and create online via more immersive experiences that provide a deeper sense of presence. These experiences can come in the form of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and/or mixed reality (MR).

2 For the purpose of this Challenge, the term "community" refers to a group of individuals (community members) that share a common interest and that engage in a horizontal way of generating value for one another. Communities can be legally constituted or be informally established as an organization/association that offers benefits (a product, a service, resources, a space, etc.) to its members. The "community” includes but is not limited to: startups, businesses, groups of individuals who routinely engage via online platforms, online content and experience creators, associations, NGOs, affiliations, and formal and non-formal education centers, among others.

AWARDS

To support selected communities as they develop their presence in the metaverse, the following set of awards will be offered by Meta.

Tier 1: Challenge Participants

• Access to a set of online training courses related to the metaverse.
• A certificate of participation for those who attend at least 80% of the training sessions.

Tier 2: 10 Challenge Grantees

• Set of online training courses in Tier 1
• US$10,000 grant
• Business coaching
• 1-week residency at Meta in São Paulo, Brazil
• Exhibition space in a metaverse event in São Paulo, in March 2023