Some local governments are entering the metaverse track. Who will be the first city in the metaverse?

The metaverse has been written into the "14th Five-Year Plan" industrial planning in some places.

Recently, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in cash has once again made the Metaverse the focus of attention. It is understood that in China, in addition to Internet companies laying out the Metaverse, some cities have also quietly started competing in the Metaverse. According to PWC data, the Metaverse market size is expected to reach $467.4 billion in 2025. With the spiral iteration of technology and products, the development of each link will lead to an expansion of the overall market size, and the future growth potential is worth looking forward to.

Previously, the governments of developed countries such as Japan and South Korea have successively issued detailed implementation rules for the construction of the Metaverse, intending to establish a leading advantage in the Metaverse track and seize the commanding heights of digital economic competition. In July last year, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan issued the "Survey Report on Future Possibilities and Issues of the Virtual Space Industry", summarizing the problems that the Japanese virtual space industry urgently needs to solve in order to occupy a dominant position in the global virtual space industry. The Ministry of Finance of South Korea also plans to spend US$20 million in the 2022 budget to develop the Metaverse platform, and the Ministry of Science, Technology and ICT of South Korea has initiated the establishment of the "Metaverse Alliance".

Running into the game

Some local governments in my country have also entered the metaverse track in different ways. As early as November last year, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Economics and Information Technology organized a symposium on the development of the "Metaverse" industry. At the end of December, Hangzhou announced the establishment of a special committee for the Metaverse. The "Guiding Opinions on the Construction of Future Industrial Pilot Zones in Zhejiang Province" issued subsequently further clarified that a future industrial development system focusing on artificial intelligence, blockchain, third-generation semiconductors, quantum information, space-air integration, advanced equipment manufacturing, and the metaverse will be built.

Also at the end of last year, Shanghai released the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Shanghai's Electronic Information Industry", which mentioned that it is necessary to strengthen the forward-looking research and development of the basic capabilities of the underlying core technologies of the metaverse, promote the development of new terminals that deepen perceptual interaction and systematic virtual content construction, and explore industry applications.

If the "early start" actions of Zhejiang and Shanghai are the most eye-catching, then some cities at the beginning of the year are even faster. On January 5, Binhu District of Wuxi City issued the "Metaverse Ecological Industry Development Plan for the Leading Area of ​​Taihu Bay Science and Technology Innovation Belt", which pointed out that it is necessary to focus on the integration of application-led and scenario-driven, and promote the in-depth application of metaverse technology in multiple fields.

On January 10 and 11, Hefei and Wuhan successively held people's congresses and included the Metaverse in the "Government Work Report". In addition, Beijing said it would promote the establishment of a new Metaverse innovation consortium and explore the construction of a Metaverse industry cluster. Shenzhen established a Metaverse Innovation Laboratory, which has successfully connected users and technical teams from more than 26 countries at home and abroad.

Keep an eye on industry opportunities

Local governments develop the Metaverse mostly from the perspective of industrial development. As a new and important carrier for the innovative development of the digital economy, the Metaverse will be an important support for the development of the urban digital economy in the future. Its development process has a positive effect on the upgrading of the local economic structure. Because the Metaverse is not an independent technology, in essence, the Metaverse is a virtualization and digitization process of the real world. The implementation of the Metaverse requires a larger scale and more powerful AI infrastructure. This includes technologies or hardware products such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, and blockchain.

Taking Shanghai as an example, the electronic information manufacturing industry, as the first of Shanghai's six pillar industries, has always played a very important role in Shanghai's economic development, and is also crucial to the development of the information industry in the Yangtze River Delta and even the whole country. Last year, Shanghai issued two three-year action plans to promote the construction of new infrastructure and promote the development of the online economy, planning to promote the construction of major projects in the fields of big data centers, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, 5G, etc.

In recent years, Wuhan and Hefei have also made remarkable achievements in the development and innovation of the digital economy, and are both listed among the 18 national new-generation artificial intelligence innovation and development pilot zones approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

$1.5 trillion market size

According to PwC's forecast, the size of the Metaverse market will reach 1.5 trillion US dollars in 2030. This means that the Metaverse is a market with great potential, and competing in the Metaverse track will bring great potential to the development of the urban digital economy.

The "14th Five-Year Plan for Digital Economy Development" issued by the State Council not long ago shows that in 2020, the added value of China's core digital economy industries accounted for 7.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP), and the digital economy has provided a strong impetus for the sustained and healthy development of the economy and society. By 2025, the added value of the core digital economy industries will account for 10% of GDP.

It is not difficult to understand why some cities in China with relatively good digital economy have been planning for the Metaverse in advance. However, some experts pointed out that the development of the Metaverse depends on breakthroughs in key technologies on the one hand, and will also encounter new problems such as value ethics and virtual space control on the other hand. This also poses new challenges to cities on the "trend".