Tracing the next steps in Shanghai’s plans for the Metaverse

Shanghai wants to lead China’s economic recovery by promoting the growth of metaverse goods and services, low-carbon energy initiatives, and smart terminal technology.

The Shanghai government plans to establish an industrial fund with assets worth 10 billion yuan, or around $1.5 billion. This will be exclusively for the growth of the metaverse, according to a South China Morning Post report.

Wu Jincheng, Head of Shanghai’s Economy and Information Technology Committee (SMCEIT) said,

“This financing will go toward creating 10 leading companies and 100 small-sized firms that will specialize in benchmarking products and services.”

Shanghai’s growth in the Metaverse industry

Shanghai will build a 10 billion yuan metaverse industrial fund, two metaverse industrial parks in Caohejing in the Xuhui District, and Zhangjiang in the Pudong New Area.

Shanghai will be home to 10 of the most significant metaverse enterprises in the world, with more than 50 linked applications in the commercial, educational, smart manufacturing, cultural, and collaborative office sectors. Thanks to these developments, the city’s metaverse industry will bring in 350 billion yuan by 2025.

This year, the metaverse was a topic of discussion in Shanghai’s Two Sessions. This made Shanghai the first municipality in the nation to include it in its long-term strategy. According to municipal officials, Shanghai also presented development plans for the post-pandemic economy’s growth accelerators.

Metaverse can give real economy to many industries

The aforementioned sectors, which are anticipated to be worth a combined $224 billion by 2025, have “huge market value,” according to Wu. In fact, he also claimed that investments in the metaverse “will promote the transformation and upgrading of many companies in the real economy.”

Examples of smart terminal technology include virtual reality headsets, smart home products, robots, and smart automobiles. The SMCEIT wants to establish two companies employing smart terminals to improve senior care, healthcare, and transportation.

Shanghai also intends to “nurture” 1,000 specialized enterprises, 10 industry titans, the development of hydrogen energy, top-tier energy technology, and low-carbon metallurgy into low-carbon industrial areas.

Worth pointing out here that the SMCEIT first identified the metaverse as one of its four “frontiers for investigation” in December 2021.

Ready for metaverse, but not crypto?

Regional behemoths like Alibaba and Tencent have pioneered Chinese metaverse projects, but the national government has been more critical and reproachful.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission cautioned against using the metaverse to link unlawful fundraising activities earlier this year.

In addition, the recent decline in the value of cryptocurrencies prompted the state-run Economic Daily to advise readers against using them. It also cautioned investors about the possibility of Bitcoin “going to zero,” according to the South China Morning Post.

China has lately re-emerged as the second-largest mining hub after the U.S. This, despite a government crackdown on Bitcoin mining activities last year.