Knowing the importance of the emerging technology, China inaugurated the Metaverse Industry Committee created under the China Mobile and Communications Association (CMCA). When the new committee officially announced its establishment, it released a new book called Metaverse — outlining the rationale for the development of the next generation internet and the future digital economy in which metaverse is deeply involved.
Experts define metaverse as virtual reality at its finest. It’s widely understood as an alternate digital reality where people work, play and socialise. As a collective virtual shared space, the digital platform is a convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet. Indeed, there are still a lot of things that need to be looked into, but the establishment of the Metaverse Industry Committee should be a great push forward for China.
CMCA is a collaboration of China’s biggest companies in the Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) that includes state-owned 5G carriers. It is the only national social organisation in the field of the Chinese mobile communications industry.
Yu Jianing, Executive Director of the committee, disclosed that their major tasks ahead will include strengthening technological innovation and application integration for the industry, organising the training of professionals, and promoting new thinking related to the metaverse.
The creation of the metaverse committee shows that emerging technology is a priority in the Chinese government’s thrust towards economic development. While on the one hand, it is regulating its large tech companies in its bid to have inclusive growth, on the other hand, Beijing is encouraging emerging technologies. China is firmly pursuing developments such as cryptocurrency and embracing a future in the metaverse.
Already, international big tech firms have signalled interest in the metaverse gearing themselves up to fully maximise its potential. And Chinese leaders are picking up the pace. In a recent speech, Li, the top government official of Shanghai, detailed that in order to boost the local economy, his city will encourage the development of “important platforms where the virtual world and the real world will interact.”
While not directly mentioning the metaverse he referenced it. The CMCA acknowledged this. The organisation proposed that the metaverse, as the third generation of the internet, will be a new milestone for global innovation and competition.
The infrastructure of the metaverse will definitely include a whole new set of technology devices and systems. Top of the list is a large variety of 5G communication networks, VR, AR, WIFI6, wearable devices, blockchain, cloud computing, edge computing and AI+GPU, industry experts said.
Moreover, the CMCA stressed that as an integrated body of cutting-edge digital technology, the metaverse is to be applied to various operating scenarios of the whole society as part of the efforts to achieve high-quality development of the digital economy.
The country is ramping up its technological advances and it seems all set to implement emerging technologies in the digital space such as the metaverse. As reported on OpenGov Asia, a new state-owned 5G carrier is warming up and should be ready to accept cellphone number registrations within the year. That speaks volumes on how much China is putting all the pieces to create one gigantic digital economy.
