Henan province, which has positioned itself as a key node in the global supply chain in the past decade by housing the world’s largest iPhone manufacturer, has zeroed in on the metaverse as its next central industry to promote. According to a recently released draft plan, the provincial government aims to develop a CNY100 billion metaverse industry by 2025, in the latest rush by local Chinese authorities to tie up their developmental blueprint with the loosely defined concept. Henan wants to cultivate an “innovative zone” for the metaverse with “significant influence”, and spur the development of relevant industries, according to the document.
The plan, titled “Henan’s metaverse industry development action plan for the years 2022 to 2025”, detailed the province’s main tasks in the coming years, which include tackling key technologies such as extended reality, digital assets and brain-computer interface. Those technologies will be applied to various sectors, with the aim of creating an “industrial metaverse”, an “energy metaverse”, an “education metaverse” and a “virtual human metaverse”.
Henan is competing with several major Chinese business hubs to attract investors and businesses, as other local governments in China are also promoting the metaverse. In July, the Shanghai government said it aimed to establish an industry fund, with around CNY10 billion in assets, dedicated to metaverse development. In Beijing, the state-backed China Computer Industry Association formed a metaverse committee this year to draft industry standards, help relevant authorities create industry road maps, and set up a CNY1 billion fund to support start-ups. In January, Wuhan and Hefei both pledged to boost metaverse development in the next five years. Wuhan said it aimed to integrate the metaverse, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain with the “real economy”, while Hefei said it would cultivate a number of leading companies and products in “cutting-edge fields” such as the metaverse.
In latest plan, Henan said it hopes to attract companies and investment in “innovative ways”, and support leading metaverse companies in and outside China to set up headquarters, laboratories, and research and development centers in the province. The province aims to cultivate 10 “backbone” metaverse companies with “core competitiveness” by 2025, the South China Morning Post reports.
