China’s Zhejiang province, the home province of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, on Saturday established a metaverse industrial association. The decision follows Beijing city’s establishment of a similar group earlier this month and comes amid greater competition in the space among regional governments in China.
See related article: Back to the physical: China metaverse seeks to boost real-world economy
Fast facts
The establishment of the association by Zhejiang’s authorities follows plans released by the province in December to build a 200 billion yuan (US$28 billion) metaverse industry by the end of 2025.
Zhejiang province’s metaverse association – Provincial Metaverse Industrial Association of Zhejiang – is be a non-profit organzation overseen by the provincial government. The group will mediate between enterprises and governments in metaverse cooperations, provide metaverse-related consultancy and training, and help to develop industry standards, according to a Monday announcement by the Zhejiang Digital Economy Society, one of the founders of the association.
Founding members of the association also include the subsidiaries of China’s state-owned telecommunication giant China Mobile and Chinese internet technology corporation NetEase, which launched their own metaverse initiatives in recent years.
Some 91 Zhejiang-based metaverse companies have joined the association as members, and the group plans to expand that number to 200 in two years.
The association listed healthcare, e-commerce, education, tourism and entertainment among the major sectors for metaverse adoption, and will set up dedicated committees for these areas.
The association is based in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province’s capital known for its academic institutions and high-tech industrial parks. The city also is home to the headquarters of Alibaba Group, and research and development centers of major Chinese tech firms such as Huawei, Vivo and Oppo.
In May, Hangzhou issued policies to offer cash benefits to metaverse companies setting up shop in the city, as metaverse competition in China accelerated.
China’s capital city Beijing started building its metaverse industrial innovation center on July 7 and has over 40 companies as members. The cities of Nanjig, Guangzhou and Hefei have also launched similar metaverse organizations since the start of the year.
