The Beijing municipal government announced a two-year Metaverse innovation and development plan that focuses on promoting the development of Metaverse related industries and helping Beijing build a benchmark city for the digital economy.
The action plan requires that all districts build technological infrastructure at the urban level and promote its use in various fields, including education and tourism.
Tongzhou District, where the administration of the Beijing municipal government located, will lead the development plan. Previously, the sub center of Beijing has inked a partnership agreement with DAGAO International Art Zone to release a testing park for metaverse covering an area of 32,000 square meters.
The development program would use technology like augmented and virtual reality, 3D visualization and GIS (Geographic Information System) to build a visual urban space digital platform.
The announcement also highlighted Bejing’s plans to nurture metaverse intellectual property companies to enhance the industry’s ecosystem. Under the guidance, several districts would be required offer financial and human resource support to build a virtual reality.
Metaverse is a technology term originally from the 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash by science fiction author Neal Stephenson. The term describes an all-encompassing virtual world where people can play, socialize and interact with one another by using avatars.
Over the past couple of months, two major cities in China have announced multi-year action plans with the Metaverse and NFTs in focus. Before Beijing, Shanghai also included the Metaverse in the five-year development plan, under which Shanghai city government pledged to develop a 350-billion-yuan (around $51 billion) metaverse industry by the end of 2025.
The rising interest of the Beijing towards leading Web3 technologies could lead to wider adoption in the country. Previously, The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology published a document that highlight the plan for developing a virtual human industry worth 50 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion) in the next three years utilizing the Web3 technology.