Comprehensive interpretation of the Metaverse industry policy: Who are the leaders of the policies?

Interpreting Metaverse industry policy: Policy leaders.

Introduction

Recently, the “metaverse” has once again ushered in a small highlight:

In terms of industrial policies, Hangzhou Shangcheng District released eight special support policies at once;

Shanghai has issued a three-year action plan to promote key technologies for the “metaverse”;

Jinan Qibugang released eight policy benefits, focusing on cultivating the “metaverse” industry;

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Shenzhen issued a document to build a digital twin pioneer city, and it is rumored that this will be the prototype of the “metaverse version of Shenzhen”.

Industry applications are more representative in Shenzhen and Nanjing.

In Shenzhen, multiple scientific and technological achievements were exhibited at the Cultural and Creative Industry Fair, and the Dragon’s Gate Digital Creativity Corridor Operation Center held a digital person developer conference, gathering head enterprises such as Huawei, Tencent, Rocket, Laihua, Tiaoyue Intelligent, and a number of new species enterprises. In Nanshan One Yuan Innovation Valley, the “Bay Area e-sports metaverse industry innovation center” was officially launched and operated.

In Nanjing, the metaverse industry talent summit was held, and many industrial projects were signed and settled in Nanjing Jiangning High-tech Zone, covering artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, and smart medical care, etc.

After scanning the whole situation, many local governments have long started the battle of attracting investment, and future industries including the metaverse are becoming new contested areas.

Industry development, policy first.

Although the economic development paths of various countries and regions are different, they cannot do without the important tool of industrial policies.

From the time node and content direction of policy releases in various places, we can roughly see the attitude of local governments towards the “metaverse” industry, which can also help us further understand their industrial development trends.

The wind of policies, blowing differently in Europe, America, and Asia

01 Relatively Calm United States

Although the “metaverse” is very active in the technology and cultural circles in the United States, the attitude of the US government towards the “metaverse” seems relatively calm.

Currently, the United States has not issued industry policies specifically to support the development of the metaverse, and only some official documents mention promoting the development of related industries.

In October 2021, US bipartisan senators proposed the Government Ownership and Supervision of Artificial Intelligence Data Act, which calls for the regulation of data involved in federal AI systems, particularly facial recognition data. In December 2021, Republican Congressman Blockingtrick McHenry proposed “ensuring the Web3 revolution happens in the United States” at a congressional hearing on the cryptocurrency industry. In March 2022, Biden signed the Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, which requires agencies to study technology innovations and regulatory policies related to cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and emphasizes strengthening US leadership in the global financial system and digital assets. In September 2022, the White House released the world’s first comprehensive framework for the responsible development of digital assets, which includes seven aspects: consumer and investor protection, promoting financial stability, combating illegal financial crimes, enhancing US global financial system leadership and economic competitiveness, inclusive finance, responsible innovation, and exploring the US Central Bank’s Digital Currency (CBDC), aimed at protecting US digital asset consumers, investors, and companies, maintaining financial stability, national security, and financial environment.On the other hand, Europe has yet to introduce industrial policies to promote the development of the metaverse, and its leaders have not spoken out in support of it. At the same time, Europe has been strengthening its regulatory efforts in the digital field in recent years.Today’s Europe lacks the genes of the metaverse and has no large internet companies. Its market is basically occupied by US technology giants. This situation has led European governments to think about using regulatory measures to prevent large companies from using their monopoly positions to stifle market vitality.The EU’s legislation, such as the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act, and the Digital Markets Act, verifies the positions and tendencies that European regulatory agencies may adopt when dealing with the metaverse, including increasing transparency, respecting user choice, strictly protecting privacy, and restricting some high-risk applications. In June 2022, the EU reached a provisional agreement on the proposed Cryptocurrency Market Act, and regulatory legislation for cryptocurrencies and digital assets may be introduced soon.

These legislations indicate that the EU is trying to take the lead in metaverse governance and rules, and thereby protect the internal market of Europe.

It is precisely because of this that some metaverse companies, developers and investors are concerned that EU regulations will hinder innovation.

Rajahalme, founder of FOV Ventures, shared an anecdote from an artificial intelligence development seminar: the EU representatives present stated that their goal is to become the best regulator of artificial intelligence.

Rajahalme joked, “It’s like when you start producing cars, Europeans say they want to be the best manufacturer of parking signs.”

The industry is worried that these regulations will not only hinder innovation, but also push talent to Asia or the United States.

03 Enterprising South Korea & Dubai

Unlike the ambiguous attitude of Europe and the United States, Asian countries’ attitudes towards metaverse are clearly positive and enterprising, with South Korea, Japan, and Dubai as typical representatives.

The South Korean government’s support for the metaverse industry is fierce.

At the end of 2020, the South Korean government proposed the “Immersive Economy Development Strategy”, which stated that by 2025, the scale of South Korea’s immersive economy industry should reach 30 trillion won, and South Korea should be developed into one of the world’s five XR leading countries. In May 2021, just two months after Roblox brought the concept of “metaverse” back to the public eye, the South Korean government immediately led the formation of the “Metaverse Alliance”, which includes 25 institutions and companies including LG and Samsung Electronics, aiming to create a national-level augmented reality platform through cooperation between the government and enterprises; in November of the same year, the Seoul municipal government released the “Seoul Metaverse Five-Year Plan”, which aims to create an administrative service ecology for metaverse in the fields of economy, culture, tourism, education, and letters and visits in three stages. The closed trial operation of the first phase has started.

At the beginning of 2022, the South Korean government announced a small goal: to become the center of the metaverse by 2026. It is reported that the South Korean government will invest 223.3 billion won (approximately RMB 1.19 billion) to support the metaverse industry this year.

Japan next door is also very serious about the metaverse.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released a report in July 2021 titled “Survey on the Potential and Issues of the Virtual Space Industry,” which stated that the government should focus on preventing and resolving legal issues related to virtual space and improve the legal application of cross-border, cross-platform business terms. The government should also work with industry experts to develop industry standards and guidelines and export such standards globally.

Japan has been striving to incorporate Web3 technology into its national agenda. In July 2022, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry established an office called the “Web 3.0 Policy Office” at the Minister’s Office. In October of the same year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that the country will invest in digital transformation services, including NFTs and metaverse. In June 2023, the Japanese Senate passed the Unfair Competition Amendment Act, which aims to provide a good development environment for small and medium-sized enterprises, such as start-ups, by protecting intellectual property in the metaverse.

The Dubai government is even more ambitious about the metaverse.

In August 2022, the Dubai government officially announced the establishment of the “High Committee for Future Technology and Digital Economy,” with Crown Prince Hamdan of Dubai as its chairman. The committee will design policies for the digital economy and future technology and analyze trends, including Dubai’s metaverse, artificial intelligence, blockchain, Web3, virtual reality, augmented reality, the Internet of Things, data centers, and cloud computing, and oversee the implementation of relevant strategies for Dubai’s digital economy and future technology.

Hamdan believes that the metaverse strategy is a comprehensive plan that is critical to Dubai’s goal of becoming a global leader in the metaverse economy and a hub for the global metaverse community. It is the next revolution in the fields of technology and economics and will impact all aspects of life in the next twenty years.

Currently, there are about 1,000 metaverse companies in Dubai, contributing $500 million to the national economy. It is expected that the number of blockchain and metaverse-related companies will increase fivefold through this strategy.

04 China: Regulating and Supporting Development

Domestically, the policy attitude is relatively rational and positive, with the ideal requirement being orderly development of the metaverse under regulation. Governments at all levels have spoken out about the “metaverse.” As early as December 2021, Li Qiang, then Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, proposed to “accelerate the development of new terminal products that directly target individual consumers and are well-known to households.” In June 2022, Wan Gang, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and President of the China Association for Science and Technology, expressed the hope of developing a “metaverse” development path with Chinese characteristics. In August 2022, Cai Qi, then Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, also proposed that the metaverse is a “new blue ocean” and emphasized the need to promote the gathering and development of the metaverse industry.

Strict regulation: senior officials have spoken out multiple times about the need for prudent regulation of the concept of the metaverse and related risks.

In December 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued “Suggestions on Strengthening Pre-regulation of Issues Related to the ‘Metaverse'”, proposing the establishment of a coordinated work mechanism to pre-regulate and supervise the “metaverse” and prevent virtual space from becoming a lawless land.

In February 2022, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a risk warning on preventing illegal fundraising in the name of the “metaverse,” explicitly cracking down on illegal and criminal activities such as absorbing funds under the guise of “metaverse investment projects” and “metaverse online games.”

Strong support: active applications and technology channels within the metaverse industry chain receive strong support.

In January 2022, the “14th Five-Year Plan” for digital economic development clearly identified seven key digital economic industries, including cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, industrial Internet, blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality, which are also core industries of the metaverse.

In October 2022, the Industrial Cultural Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a “Three-Year Action Plan for Industrial Metaverse Development (2022-2025),” which plans to achieve the goal of “three 100s” in three years, focusing on promoting the healthy development of technological reserves, standard research and development, application cultivation, and ecological construction of industrial metaverse.

In November 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Radio and Television Administration, and the General Administration of Sports jointly issued the “Action Plan for the Integrated Development of Virtual Reality and Industry Applications (2022-2026),” which mentioned that by 2026, key technologies such as three-dimensional and virtual-real fusion immersive audio and video will be breakthroughs, a new generation of user-friendly virtual reality terminal products will continue to enrich, the industrial ecology will be further improved, and virtual reality will achieve large-scale application in important industries in the economic and social fields, creating several backbone enterprises and industrial clusters with strong international competitiveness, and building a development pattern of technology, products, services, and applications prosperous together.

Dozens of provinces and cities relay, who is the king of the roll?

01 Dozens of provinces and cities are launching one after another

Several provinces/cities/regions across the country have mentioned “metaverse” and its related industries in their 14th Five-Year Plan, government work reports, relevant industry plans, and support policies.

For example:

In January of this year, the Shanghai Municipal Government Work Report proposed vigorously developing the four new tracks of the digital economy, green and low-carbon, metaverse, and intelligent terminals;

The Sichuan Provincial Government Work Report proposed to plan ahead and develop future industries such as advanced computing, quantum communication, industrial metaverse, and brain-like intelligence;

The Henan Provincial Government Work Report proposed to accelerate the construction of provincial blockchain industrial parks and metaverse science and technology innovation industrial parks, and promote the development of the satellite and application industry;

The Jiangsu Provincial Government Work Report pointed out that it will deepen the implementation of the digital economy core industry acceleration action plan, actively develop future industries such as the metaverse, strive to break through the scale of the digital economy to more than 5.5 trillion yuan, and promote the construction of the national blockchain development pilot zone;

The “Action Plan for Enhancing the Innovation Capability of New Generation Information Technology in Shandong Province (2023-2025)” proposes the 2025 action goal: “The technical level of information security, metaverse and other fields reaches the international advanced level”;

The “Three-Year Action Plan for the Development of Kunming’s Digital Economy (2022-2024)” proposes to focus on the development of core digital economy industries such as intelligent terminal manufacturing, new types of displays, 5G, blockchain, cloud computing, big data services, and metaverse;

The Guangxi “Several Policy Measures to Accelerate the Comprehensive Recovery and Revitalization of the Cultural and Tourism Industry” mentioned the use of metaverse to create digital scenic spots, combine digital with cultural tourism, enrich consumption forms, and “Further Deepen the China (Guangxi) Free Trade Pilot Zone Reform and Opening Up Plan” also discussed strengthening cooperation with ASEAN countries in key areas such as the digital economy under the RCEP system and opening up metaverse businesses;

Beijing also released the first special policy to support the digital human industry in China in 2022-“Beijing’s Action Plan to Promote Innovative Development of Digital Human Industry (2022-2025).

There are also many places that have directly issued special plans or support policies for metaverse. According to incomplete statistics, as of June 2023, there may be more than 60 metaverse special plans or support policies nationwide.

Let’s take a look at who has put the three words “metaverse” in the policy title↓

02 Yangtze River Delta and Greater Bay Area Compete in the Race

From the above policy release time, 2022 is the most concentrated, and Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are still leading the way.

In addition, the provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Delta region are very active, and the Greater Bay Area represented by Guangdong and Hong Kong is also unwilling to fall behind.

The first to take the lead was Wuxi, Jiangsu.

As early as the New Year’s Day of 2022, Wuxi issued the “Development Plan for the Ecological Industry of the Metaverse in the Taihu Bay Science and Technology Innovation Zone”. In the future, the Metaverse industry in the Binhu area will be based on breakthroughs in core technologies, oriented towards industrial agglomeration, and achieve the “four-in-one” goal of combining space layout with industrial promotion, integrating application guidance with scenario driving, integrating coordinated development with integrated development, and combining market leadership with government guidance in the development of the Metaverse ecological industry.

Shanghai has intensive and close policy support for the Metaverse.

Several districts in Shanghai have successively issued a number of special support policies, and Shanghai is the first to issue a provincial-level Metaverse special policy-“Shanghai City’s Action Plan to Cultivate a New Track of “Metaverse” (2022-2025)”. The “Action Plan” proposes four main tasks and delineates eight key projects, striving to make the scale of Shanghai’s “Metaverse”-related industries reach 350 billion yuan by 2025. On June 16 this year, the “Action Plan for Key Technology Research and Development of “Metaverse” in Shanghai (2023-2025)” was released, which targetedly proposed multiple key technologies, and for the first time clarified two major attack directions-immersive technology and Web3 technology.

Zhejiang is also making every effort to develop the Metaverse from the provincial level to the district level.

The “Zhejiang Province Metaverse Industry Development Action Plan (2023-2025)” at the end of 2022 and the “2023 Work Points for the Development of Zhejiang Province’s Metaverse Industry” at the beginning of 2023 both demonstrate Zhejiang Province’s positive attitude towards the development of the Metaverse industry. The special policies of various districts in Hangzhou, Zhejiang reflect the meticulous layout of governments at all levels in the Metaverse field. For example, Qiantang District, which issued special policies earlier, provides multiple high subsidies to relevant companies, projects, and talents, and gives up to 100 million yuan in support to entrepreneurial projects that are scarce and particularly prominent in level of industrial development.

Recently, the urban district of Shangcheng released a series of measures to accelerate the innovation and development of the metaverse industry in June 2023. These support measures cover eight aspects including entrepreneurship support, office subsidies, R&D subsidies, growth incentives, talent attraction, financial support, benchmark scenarios, and ecological construction. Single project subsidies can be as high as 10 million yuan and are applicable to both newly established enterprises in the “one core and multiple points” metaverse industrial park in Shangcheng district and enterprises involved in the metaverse ecological industry such as key core technology research and development, basic software development, terminal equipment research and development, etc.

In order to match the eight special policies, Shangcheng district has also created a theme industry space carrier – the future industry center of Shangcheng district to implement investment promotion. The industrial positioning of the future industry center of Shangcheng district is “the future industry and digital economy industry centered on the metaverse”. The digital financial center, digital innovation center, digital marketing center, and supply chain center with industrial office functions are planned, as well as the digital service base and brand incubation base with industrial supporting functions.

Guangzhou is the most active in metaverse policy in the Greater Bay Area, and Shenzhen has also made its presence felt from various angles.

Huangpu district of Guangzhou released the first “10 measures for metaverse” in the Greater Bay Area – the “Measures for promoting the innovation and development of the metaverse in Huangpu district of Guangzhou Development Zone”, and implemented “listing the best” for key metaverse technologies, giving up to 10 million yuan reward for successful projects.

The Nansha district of Guangzhou also introduced two supporting policies, among which, “Nine Measures for Promoting the Development of Metaverse Ecology in Guangzhou Nansha New District (Nansha Free Trade Zone)” proposed to give a maximum of 200 million yuan of funding support to each metaverse scientific research platform with significant technological innovation support.

Although Shenzhen’s special policy for the metaverse has not yet been introduced, the official attitude of Shenzhen towards the “metaverse” is very clear, mainly reflected in the support policies related to the digital economy.

In October 2022, the “Several Measures to Promote the High-Quality Development of the Software Industry in Shenzhen” mentioned that it would focus on supporting new technology platform software such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, 5G, virtual reality and augmented reality, the Internet of Things, industrial Internet, and metaverse.

Futian District’s government work report and industrial policies also mention the layout of the metaverse, mainly supporting virtual reality, brain-like intelligence, quantum technology, smart hardware, intelligent manufacturing, etc. in terms of demonstration bases, industrial empowerment, regional positioning, enterprise settlement, and technology integration. Among them, the “Several Measures to Support the Development of Future Industry Clusters in Futian District, Shenzhen” issued in June 2023 clearly stated that the support objects are future industries such as blockchain and metaverse, quantum information, brain-like intelligence, etc. The maximum support for the development of metaverse underlying technologies is proposed to be 1 million yuan.

Most notably, in June 2023, Shenzhen issued the “Shenzhen Digital Twin Pioneer City Construction Action Plan (2023)”, which clearly stated that it will build a “digital twin pioneer city that integrates numbers and reality, grows together, interacts in real time, and responds in seconds.” This may be the embryonic form of the “metaverse version of Shenzhen”.

Special attention: “Prominent bag” Shenzhen has done some “supplementary actions”.

Zhang Hua, vice mayor of Shenzhen Municipal Government, said at the 2022 Global Metaverse Conference Shenzhen Station that “in 2021, the value added of Shenzhen’s core digital economy industry exceeded 900 billion yuan, accounting for 30.5% of the city’s GDP, and the scale and quality are both among the first in large and medium-sized cities in China. Next, Shenzhen will make every effort to cultivate, develop and strengthen the “20+8″ industrial clusters, especially around the high-quality development of the metaverse industry, continue to improve industrial policies, attract and cultivate a group of backbone enterprises, innovation carriers, and high-end talents, and actively promote the opening of application scenarios.”

Shenzhen’s “20+8” industrial cluster planning includes technology foundations related to the development of the metaverse, such as smart terminals, smart sensors, software and information services, blockchain, brain science and brain-like intelligence.

Relying on the advantages of the legislative power of the special zone, Shenzhen can take the lead in legislating on digital content and assets, clarify the ownership of digital assets and transaction rules; and has set up the Shenzhen Data Trading Center, which can carry out data trading and further release the value of data elements.

Technology versus scene, each with its own focus

01 Leading the district level, the direction is more clear

Basically, the special policies for the metaverse industry in various places are first at the district level, then at the municipal level, and finally at the provincial level, and the direction is more refined and clear. Such as:

Beijing hopes to build the urban sub-center into a metaverse application demonstration zone with cultural and tourism content as its characteristics within 3 years, cultivate and introduce more than 100 metaverse ecological chain enterprises, and form more than 30 application scenario projects; cultivate four major industrial chains of the metaverse, promote the innovative development of the metaverse industry in the sub-center, and promote its deep integration with digital technology and the real economy.

Yongchuan District, Chongqing proposes to “strive to build Yongchuan into a nationally renowned and western-leading metaverse application demonstration city with digital content production as its characteristics by 2025.”

The “Metaverse 10 Articles” in Huangpu District, Guangzhou focuses on digital twins, human-machine interaction, AR/VR/MR, etc., and focuses on cultivating industrial metaverse, digital virtual people, digital art trading and other fields that reflect the development trend of the metaverse.

02 Talent, technology, and resource competition

Although governments in various regions have different focuses on the development of the metaverse industry, they cannot be separated from the competition for technical talents, key technologies, and industrial resources. For example, the subsidies that frequently reach tens of millions or even hundreds of millions mentioned earlier are important chips for local governments to compete for resources and seize the initiative.

Industry insiders say that the policies around the metaverse industry are more about guiding the government to make more non-professional or non-technical people understand this concept, and then form “integrated innovation”.

However, some experts believe that these policy documents are not simple technical solutions, but a kind of industrial planning, emphasizing the construction of industrial ecology and comprehensive innovation.

03 Three major focuses, different paths lead to the same goal

If you carefully observe these “metaverse” special policies, you will find these three high-frequency words: industrial metaverse, virtual digital people, and metaverse IP. These three areas are also the hot tracks for future industrial development.

Industrial Metaverse: Guangdong, Shanghai, Wuxi, Hefei, Shandong and other places propose to accelerate the integration and landing of the metaverse in the industrial manufacturing industry, cultivate industrial metaverse-related application scenarios, and build “metaverse + intelligent manufacturing” demonstration applications. Shanghai believes that the industrial metaverse is “metaverse + industrial Internet”; Henan Province believes that the industrial metaverse is “industrial digital twins”; Zhejiang Province attributes the industrial metaverse to “manufacturing industry empowerment and improvement engineering”, and explores the form of “industrial metaverse + vertical industry” characteristic industry park.

Virtual Digital Humans: Each province and city is promoting the development of its virtual digital human-related industry. Shanghai is more inclined towards the production and manufacturing of virtual digital humans, as well as the interaction capabilities of virtual digital humans. Henan Province is more inclined to inject more vitality into its cultural and tourism sector. Zhejiang Province mainly focuses on the application of virtual digital humans in e-commerce marketing and other fields.

Metaverse IP: Each region not only gives specific policy guidance based on the characteristic industries related to the metaverse, such as virtual digital humans but also seizes certain advantages in the digital economy and IP effects based on its existing industrial characteristics. Shanghai places the emphasis of its metaverse IP planning on the cultivation of the digital IP market, particularly digital assets. Zhejiang hopes to create its own metaverse IP and thus exert brand influence.

Moving Forward by Riding the Momentum in Multi-Party Competitions

01 Multi-Party Forces “Grouping” to Fight Monsters

Of course, policy coordination is not the only approach for each region to participate in the “metaverse campaign.” In recent years, the establishment of metaverse industry alliances, industry associations, professional committees, and other entities is also a microcosm of each region’s layout of the metaverse industry.

In October 2021, the first national social organization of the metaverse industry, the Metaverse Industry Working Committee of the China Association of Private Science and Technology Entrepreneurs, was established in Beijing. Since then, metaverse industry chambers of commerce have emerged across the country like mushrooms after a rain.

On November 11, 2021, the China Mobile Communications Federation Metaverse Industry Committee unveiled its plaque.

On December 21, 2021, the Sichuan Tianfu New Area Metaverse Industry Association was officially registered.

On January 11, 2022, the Wuxi Metaverse Innovation Alliance was established.

On March 25, 2022, the Guangzhou Metaverse Industry Alliance was established.

On April 26, 2022, the China (Chongqing) Metaverse Industry Alliance was formally established.

On May 31, 2022, the Xiamen Metaverse Industry Alliance was established.

On June 8, 2022, the International Chamber of Commerce Metaverse Professional Committee in Hangzhou was announced.

On June 15, 2022, the Liaoning Metaverse Industry Alliance was established.

On July 27, 2022, the Zhangjiang Metaverse Innovation Development Alliance was established.

Through the collaboration of various organizations, the basic groups are professional organizations and leading enterprises from the fields of “government, industry, academia, research, and finance”. They are committed to leveraging their respective advantages, integrating their resources, and making the “metaverse” truly “virtual to reality”, empowering the development of industrial economy.

In addition to the well-known Internet giants, operators are also the backbone of exploring the metaverse. Many industry associations in the “metaverse” are led by operators. On April 18, 2023, the four major operators of China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Radio and Television appeared on the same stage for the first time at the “2023 Global Metaverse Conference Beijing Station” and jointly discussed the application prospects of the metaverse in the communication and radio and television fields. They jointly initiated the establishment of the GPT Industry Alliance, and jointly opened a new door to explore the future of Chinese artificial intelligence.

Figure | Four major operators initiated the establishment of the GPT Industry Alliance

02 “Academics” strongly support

Colleges and universities are the source of innovation, the main battlefield for talent training and gathering. Universities have always been at the forefront of China’s Internet development, witnessing and participating in every historical process. The seeds of China’s metaverse future are also quietly sprouting in major universities.

Until February 2023, according to incomplete statistics, there were at least 73 universities in the country layout in the metaverse field, including 51 undergraduate universities and 12 specialized universities. These universities mainly layout the metaverse field by setting up metaverse majors, metaverse course series, and building metaverse platforms (metaverse research laboratories, metaverse training platforms, metaverse innovation display platforms, and metaverse campus systems).

In April 2022, the Institute of Interdisciplinary Sciences of Renmin University of China established the first metaverse research center in China, dedicated to deepening the research on the concept of the metaverse, expanding the conceptualization of metaverse applications, and providing decision-making basis for government metaverse governance and policy-making.

At the same time, Tsinghua University and Chinese Online jointly established the Metaverse Cultural Laboratory, which is one of the earliest metaverse laboratories established in China and the first metaverse laboratory with cultural attributes in China. As early as 2021, Tsinghua University’s first AI virtual student “Hua Zhibing” had already made a heavy appearance.

Image | Tsinghua University Establishes Metaverse Culture Lab

In September 2022, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology established the first domestic department named after Metaverse, the Metaverse Engineering Department. In April of this year, the Metaverse Intelligent Wearable Research Institute was established in Kunshan, and in May, the Chinese Metaverse Technology and Application Innovation Platform was jointly established. Relevant teams at the university have published nearly 100 high-level papers and monographs, and have successively improved and launched multiple Metaverse application systems. Achievements such as Metaverse Sleep, multimodal interaction VR experiments, and Metaverse museums have been widely applied.

Image | Launching Ceremony of the Chinese Metaverse Technology and Application Innovation Platform

In July 2022, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology launched the world’s first Metaverse twin campus. MetaHKUST, launched by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, is an extended reality (XR) campus belonging to the HKUST and HKUST (Guangzhou) campuses. This virtual twin campus not only provides an immersive learning experience, but also a comprehensive platform that all students, faculty, and alumni can participate in, allowing the HKUST community to engage in cross-campus creation, innovation, and interactive contact.

In Guangdong Province, the first university to establish a Metaverse industrial college is Chaozhou Vocational and Technical College. The Metaverse Industrial College of Chaozhou Vocational and Technical College was established in May 2022 and officially unveiled in March 2023. It is reported that the college has established teaching and practice bases such as Metaverse labs, Metaverse workshops, and Metaverse live broadcast rooms. It has opened the first batch of Metaverse experimental classes in related majors such as animation production and e-commerce, using Metaverse technology to empower the construction of professional connotations and innovate the professional education model. Through continuous strengthening of hardware and software construction, professional construction, and innovation in virtual people, data-smart people, digital twins, virtual space production, and integration of virtual people elements into virtual-real combination live streaming sales and other fields, certain breakthroughs have been achieved.

Image | Chaozhou Vocational and Technical College Metaverse Industrial College Unveiling Ceremony

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