China has formed a working group to push for standardization of the metaverse industry, as the world’s second-largest economy seeks to drive growth in the nascent industry.
This was stated by the Ministry of Industry and Information (MIIT) in a I notify on Friday it announced that it had formed a working group with representatives from government, academia and business.
Members of the working group include those from Chinese tech giants, such as Huawei, Ant Group, Tencent, Baidu, NetEase and Sense Time.
The creation of the task force comes as the country hopes to establish industry standards for its metaverse industry. MIIT said this in a document published in September that formulating basic standards such as metaverse terminology and reference architecture could be helpful in unifying consensus among stakeholders.
“It helps reduce redundant investment costs and creates a collaborative force to drive industrial development,” MIIT said.
The ministry added that there is currently no consensus among academia, industry and research sectors on the definition of a metaverse. “Intense speculation fueled by some capitals and businesses exploiting the popularity of the metaverse has led the concept to move away from its practical value,” the ministry continued. “This, to some extent, hinders the development of the metaverse industry.”
He is committed to enhancing Web3
China plans to encourage the development of non-fungible tokens and decentralized applications as the country continues to embrace blockchain technology, despite the cryptocurrency ban. The Miit said this in December document that he intends to do so formulate strategic documents to clarify the development path of Web3.
Last year, several local governments committed to developing the metaverse industry. Sichuan — a province in southwestern China that was once a cryptocurrency mining center before the country ban on mining – said in August that he intends to do so grow his industry in the metaverse reach a market size of 250 billion yuan ($35.1 billion) by 2025.
In August, Shandong province also said it planned to do so grow initiatives related to the metaverse in the province to reach a market size of 150 billion yuan by 2025.