The metaverse, as an integral part of the web3 evolution, offers a new level of immersive and interactive experience that is set to profoundly transform how businesses, consumers and the public interact with one another. Organisations need to understand the best approach to engage with the metaverse to capture its fast-growing opportunities. Now more than ever, it is crucial to bridge the gap between the virtual and physical worlds, leveraging immersive digital tools to solve real-world needs.

This year, PwC Hong Kong is hosting its first-ever Metaverse Challenge (“the Challenge”) – a metaverse case competition where university students can put their creative, consulting, and technical skills into practice by solving complex challenges based on real-world scenarios.

The competition serves as a platform to drive mass adoption of the metaverse, offering unique exposure for future talents to nurture their skills in web3 and the metaverse.

Winners will be awarded with PwC Hong Kong's internship opportunity or fast-track entry to PwC Hong Kong's Superday for final year students.

Close to 400 talented students from various disciplines and universities in Hong Kong gathered for the Metaverse Challenge 2023 to put their creative, consulting, and technical skills into solving complex business challenges through the metaverse. We received over 50 impressive submissions, and from those, only the eight highest-scoring teams were chosen to advance to the final presentation, where the finalists demonstrated how they leverage the Sandbox metaverse to develop solutions for the selected business challenge.
Congratulations to the winning team and prize winners. It has been inspiring to witness how talented students developed their metaverse skills rapidly over the course of a month, emerging as all-rounded metaverse consultants. We look forward to seeing how these talented students will continue to shape the future of the metaverse and beyond.

Event details

Students will be tasked with developing solutions to real-life business problems facing many industries today by leveraging the metaverse environment within The Sandbox platform. Participants are not expected to have extensive knowledge of the metaverse at the time of registration, so feel free to apply!

The Challenge will be a test of not only your design, creative, and technical skills, but your business acumen as well. Metaverse submissions should take UI UX considerations into account while simultaneously being a comprehensive solution to the prompt being addressed. The solution is not expected to be highly technical in nature, but the inclusion of some degree of gamification/quest lines and socialisation options for users will be mandatory.

Participating teams will have one month to develop their approach and design their metaverse solution. Finalists will be invited to a final-round presentation where they will present their solution in-person to a Grand Jury.

Further details regarding the competition prompts will be revealed on Orientation Day.

Company A is a traditional travel agency that offers tour packages and booking services

Streamlined operations and shut down numerous branches during COVID-19, but is now facing increasing number of overseas travel inquiries and demand for travel packages

Reluctant to rent one-off booths at travel exhibitions due to the lack of resources

Stiff competition from online travel agencies that provide much more flexibility at a lower cost

Company A has been exploring the use of digital channels to better advertise its products and services

Company B and C are both multinational social media platforms that share similar operations in the industry; but are vastly different in company culture , management style , and working procedures

Company C has recently been acquired by Company B, and all employees from Company C will be transferred to Company B

Due to poor communication and fear of the unknown , employees from Company C find it difficult to fully assimilate into Company B, leading to low staff morale and a high turnover rate

The CEO of Company B wants to create an onboarding programme that guides new employees throughout the onboarding process and allows interaction among staff of all levels

Bank D is a large multinational banking group that is pledging to become carbon neutral by 2025 and adhere to ESG standards

Committed to reducing Bank D’s carbon footprint and encouraging the development of a more responsible financial industry, in ways such as increasing investments in ESG-compliant financial instruments and a greater willingness of the bank’s leadership to speak out on ESG issues

​​ Public awareness of Bank D’s initiatives remains low

Leadership hopes to engage current and potential clients by leveraging the Metaverse to highlight the strides that it has made in ESG compliance and sustainability

Rules

All participants must work in groups of at least 2 and no more than 5. Team compositions must be finalised upon registration. Participants may form teams with participants from different universities in Hong Kong.

Participants shall work on their metaverse solution only during the assigned preparation period. Any evidence of alterations made to the submitted deliverables after the last day of the preparation period will automatically void the submission and disqualify the submitting team.

Participants shall abide by the Challenge's Rules, Terms and Conditions, and the Code of Conduct. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in disqualification.

Eligibility

Any full-time undergraduate student of a university based in Hong Kong is eligible to apply. This includes non-residents of Hong Kong who are otherwise enrolled in a qualifying institution at the time of registration.

Build Period

Participants are to address only ONE (1) prompt per team.

The final deliverables shall consist of:

• Written Submission: a form that consists of your team’s information, a description of how your Metaverse solution pertains to the prompt, and acknowledgment of any third-party assets/ content that you used.
• Video Recording: A 2-minute video that gives a walk-through of the Sandbox build and an introduction to the features that will help solve the business issue (voiceover/ text-on-screen). The YouTube link to the video must be attached on the corresponding box of the written submission form.
• In addition to the above, finalists will also be required to submit:
  • A presentation deck covering the aspects of their metaverse solution that they wish to present to the Grand Jury. Other presentation material can be included as needed.
  • Submissions made after 11:59 PM on the last day of the preparation period will not be accepted.
  • Similarly, finalists must submit their presentation materials by 11:59 PM on the last day of the second preparation period. Late submissions will not be accepted and will automatically disqualify the submitting team.

  Submissions will be evaluated on the following variables:

  • Creativity and originality of the metaverse solution to the prompt chosen;
  • Visuals and aesthetics , encompassing UX UI and overall usability for the layman;
  • Business implications of the solution; and
  • Completeness of documentation.

  In addition, finalists will also be evaluated on their presentation skills and how well they can showcase their metaverse solution during the live demonstration.

  • Demystifying the metaverse
  • The Metaverse: What Businesses Need to Know
  • PwC 2022 US Metaverse Survey
  • Demystifying web3

  Metaverse Challenge 2023
  Bridging the virtual and physical worlds

  Application are now closed

  For registered participants, please submit the completed Written Submission and email the document to [email protected] with the title “Metaverse Challenge 2023: Submission for [team name]”.