p-NET Welcomed as the Inaugural Forum Principal Lab
The Metaverse Standards Forum is proud to announce the launch of its Forum Labs Initiative — a major new program designed to accelerate open cooperation and interoperability through grounded, high-impact Collaborative Projects.As the metaverse ecosystem evolves, so does the need for real-world testing and validation of emerging standards. The Forum Labs Initiative empowers qualified member organizations to lead and participate in Collaborative Projects that span both pre-standardization exploration and post-standardization deployment — ensuring that standards development is shaped by practical experience and ready for real-world adoption.
What Is a Forum Principal Lab?
A Forum Principal Lab is a designated Principal Member with the expertise, infrastructure, and commitment to support and execute Collaborative Projects in close collaboration with Forum Working Groups. These labs play a critical role in bridging the gap between concept and deployment, providing hands-on insight and technical depth.
What Can Collaborative Projects Include?
Collaborative Projects under the Forum Labs Initiative are designed to deliver tangible, ecosystem-wide impact. Example activities include:
Defining and testing use cases and technical requirements
Running interoperability testbeds and plugfests
Co-hosting webinars, workshops, and symposia
Collaborating on grant-funded R&D proposals
Developing and validating open tooling and resources
By enabling both early-stage exploration and testing of real-world implementations, the program helps keep metaverse standards development practical and grounded in deployment experience.
Why It Matters
For the Ecosystem: The program strengthens the foundation of the open metaverse by enabling standards to be tested, refined, and adopted in real-world conditions — increasing reliability, reducing fragmentation, and accelerating time to impact.
For Labs: Forum Principal Labs gain unique opportunities to demonstrate leadership, enhance visibility, collaborate with key stakeholders, and contribute to shaping the future of metaverse interoperability.
For the Forum: The program expands the Forum’s capacity to turn strategic goals into operational momentum — helping fulfill its mission to catalyze open and inclusive metaverse standards.
p-NET Designated as First Forum Principal Lab
p-NET has been designated as the first Forum Principal Lab under the Forum’s new initiative. Established in 2022 through a collaboration between the University of Patras, private and public sector partners, and Greece’s General Secretariat for Research and Innovation, p-NET focuses on advancing 5G/6G innovation and exploring their applications in immersive technologies.
As the inaugural Forum Principal Lab, p-NET will leverage its state-of-the-art infrastructure and research capabilities to Collaborative Projects that test and validate metaverse interoperability in real-world scenarios. Forum members and global participants will gain access to p-NET’s advanced 5G testbeds and tools — helping bridge standards development with practical, measurable outcomes.
“We foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological progress in smart network technologies while promoting digital transformation and sustainability across sectors such as culture and tourism, smart cities, education, media, and public-sector services,” said [NAME, TITLE, ORGANIZATION]. “We’re eager to study how interoperability requirements and emerging standards affect user experience and value chains in controlled environments — and to help quantify the benefits of standards adoption.”
Join the Movement
Forum Principal Labs will be recognized on the Forum’s website, granted the use of an official designation, and encouraged to propose and co-lead impactful projects with the Forum and its members. Each project will be guided by a transparent agreement that defines roles, deliverables, and open outcomes — with a strong focus on collaboration, real-world impact, and publicly available results that advance the open metaverse ecosystem.
This program marks a significant step forward in turning interoperability goals into collaborative, measurable progress.
Learn more about the Metaverse Standards Forum and how your organization can become a Forum Principal Lab.
