In Nanjing, the capital of the coastal province of Jiangsu, the China Metaverse Technology and Application Innovation Platform was launched. The project aims to develop research and development in the field of Metaverse technologies across the country.
The Chinese government has initiated the creation of a nationwide Metaverse platform for research and development in the field of virtual reality. The platform is based at the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST) and is designed to consolidate the resources of academic institutions and industrial enterprises in China aimed at the development of Metaverse technologies.
The first members of the new platform are various academic institutions and Metaverse-related companies from all over Mainland China. The organization will study and develop a global collective virtual space. One of the program’s goals is to create a virtual reality where users can interact with each other and the digital environment in real time. In addition, platform participants will engage in the development of augmented reality technologies.
The launch of the nationwide project with its center in Nanjing could be the result of the initiative of the local authorities, which announced a strategy for the development of Metaverse technologies in February 2023. According to their plans, the industry’s annual revenue is expected to exceed 135 billion yuan ($19.13 billion) by the end of 2025.
The Shanghai authorities also presented a similar program predicting that the income of the Metaverse industry will reach 350 billion yuan ($49.6 billion) by 2025. Later, the plan of industry development was supplemented by the document, listing the 20 most promising uses of VR technology. Authorities of other cities and regions of China voiced similar plans.
The government of China plans to take a leading position in the global VR technology market by 2026 so that the current initiatives can be seen as part of this plan. The PRC government is generally serious about blockchain technology. For example, they recently launched the Chinese National Blockchain Technology Innovation Center, which will train half a million professionals. A little earlier, the national Chinese NFT platform, also created by the government, began its work.
UPD: The Zhengzhou city administration also launched a support program for the Metaverse industry. It allocated 10 billion yuan ($1.42 billion) to stimulate the growth and development of the sector. In particular, specialized companies that move their headquarters to Zhengzhou can receive up to 200 million yuan ($28.34 million) in capital and other incentives.
