Chinese city launches gov’t-backed metaverse platform

On May 22, Nanjing, the capital city of China’s eastern Jiangsu province, inaugurated the China Metaverse Technology and Application Innovation Platform to advance metaverse research and development across the country.

The newly established state-backed entity is led by the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST). As per an announcement on NUIST’s official social media account, the platform consists of founding members representing diverse academic institutions and metaverse-related companies throughout mainland China.

The platform aims to bring together the resources of academic institutions and enterprises in China, strengthening research endeavors in metaverse-related fields. The metaverse refers to a virtual universe or collective virtual space encompassing all virtual worlds, augmented reality and virtual reality experiences. It is an interconnected digital realm where users can interact with each other and with computer-generated environments in real time.

Nanjing and other Chinese cities are competing to take a prominent position in the country’s metaverse development. In February 2023, the city revealed its metaverse strategy, aiming to create a thriving industry with annual revenues surpassing 135 billion yuan ($19.13 billion) by the close of 2025.
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