Can a 'Metaverse by Design' Benefit from Digital Process Twins?

‘The Metaverse represents the next generation Internet’ - this industry belief challenges the current understanding of Internet-based interaction, and the way it progresses towards a cyber-physical network. Will development techniques for the Internet-of-Things (IoT), Internet-of-Behaviors (IoB), and Internet of Everything (IoE) deliver what is the essence of Metaverse applications? In this reflection paper this question is tackled through the lens of Digital Process Twins (DPTs), as they are already an effective and efficient technology for Cyber-Physical System (CPS) development. The argumentation of industry for establishing the Metaverse as the next generation Internet allows the identification and specification of design requirements. In this contribution these requirements are derived from conceptual inputs on Metaverse developments. The requirements are used for analyzing subject-oriented Digital Process Twin capabilities on whether they can support design and implementation of Metaverse applications. Benefits that can be delivered by executable Digital Process Twins models do not only concern the design (process) when being supported by subject-oriented abstraction and representation overcoming interoperability barriers, but also by the validation of behavior models and their synchronization at runtime, in particular with physical components increasing the immersion capabilities of Metaverse applications.