Zhangjiang Metaverse Innovation Development Alliance, a metaverse industry alliance, was founded at the 2022 Shanghai Metaverse Conference, which was held at Shanghai Pudong Software Park on July 27.

The metaverse industry alliance aims to integrate the all of the industry’s resources to build a cooperation platform with a focus on enhancing the development of the metaverse industry, and integrating R&D and production, talent training, innovation application, digital empowerment and brand promotion.

The first members of the alliance include over 20 professional institutions and leading enterprises, such as Chinese search engine giant Baidu, German software producer SAP, global consulting firm Accenture and ShanghaiTech University. Their range of interests cover the government, industries, academia, research and venture capital.

The metaverse, a buzzword referring to a shared virtual environment or digital space created by technologies including virtual reality and augmented reality, is expected to bring a new industrial revolution. The emerging industry is on a fast track to becoming real this year, and has created an infinite amount of imaginary space for the market.

As one of the key carriers of Shanghai’s metaverse, Zhangjiang (Metaverse) Digital Chain Industrial Base was included in the third batch of 13 of Shanghai’s municipal-level characteristic industrial parks in June this year.

“This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park and Shanghai Zhangjiang Group. Building the digital chain base and fostering the metaverse industry will boost Zhangjiang’s industrial development and empower the future growth of new dominant industries,” Yuan Tao, chairman of Shanghai Zhangjiang Group, noted at the metaverse conference. He introduced the digital chain industrial base and its future construction plan.

Zhangjiang’s metaverse ecosystem, which focuses on three world-class industry clusters of life and health, integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, covers six categories, 17 tracks, 124 technology lines, 2,400 enterprises and almost all the key industrial parks in Zhangjiang Science City.

According to Yuan, Zhangjiang will establish a virtual space encompassing 4.1 square kilometers of the Zhangjiang region and build the first area of the metaverse.

In the next step, the base will leverage Zhangjiang Science City’s resources including functional platforms and industrial parks such as Shanghai Data Exchange, Zhangjiang Artificial Intelligence Island and Zhangjiang Online to focus on the R&D of metaverse technology, data services, digital creativity, and applications.

The base aims to become an innovation area for metaverse headquarters, a cluster for the metaverse industry, a leading area for metaverse ecosystem, a demonstration area for metaverse scenarios, as well as a highland for metaverse technological innovation and industrial development with an international influence by cultivating enterprises, building scientific innovation platforms, recruiting talents, deploying a new digital infrastructure, and creating a new open ecosystem.

“The metaverse is one of Shanghai’s four frontiers for exploration, which has attracted great attention from home and abroad”, said Wang Dong, director of Shanghai Investment Promotion Service Center, in his keynote speech. “Shanghai is at the forefront of developing the metaverse in China. Its efforts included strengthening the layout in 2021, releasing a plan for metaverse development this month, and holding the Metaverse Conference today,” said Wang, adding that the city is striving to provide metaverse enterprises with a better business environment and more opportunities.

Shanghai will ramp up efforts to develop extended reality (XR), digital simulation, and digital natives to spur economic and social growth, according to Qiu Wei, who heads the software and information service department of Shanghai’s economy and informatization commission. Qiu introduced Shanghai’s plan (2022-2025) for metaverse development at the conference.

“The metaverse industry is entering a stage of rapid development, highlighting mature technology and rich application scenarios. Shanghai will strengthen mechanisms and metaverse mechanisms and guidance to prevent risks, while creating an inclusive and open environment,” Qiu said.

By 2025, Shanghai plans to develop a 350-billion-yuan ($52 billion) metaverse industry and aims to nurture at least 10 globally competitive innovative firms and dominant supply chain companies in the metaverse sector, as well as more than 100 specialized businesses with core technologies and high growth that turn out new and unique products.

During the metaverse conference, a metaverse-themed panel, hosted by Hui Zhibin, director of the Center for Internet Studies of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, invited Zheng Qingsheng, partner of Sequoia Capital China, Wang Bei, partner of GL Ventures, and Li Genguo, director of the Shanghai Supercomputer Center, and representatives from new metaverse companies to share their insights on China’s metaverse development.

Furthermore, nine representative metaverse startups demonstrated their cutting-edge products at the event, including application scenarios for glasses-free 3D/XR technologies.