Zhengzhou Plans To Invest $1.24 Billion in Metaverse

For the second time this week and the third time this month, a Chinese city moves forward to foster the development of Web3-related technologies.

Zhengzhou city, the capital city of Henan province, announced a number of initiatives to support metaverse companies. The Zhengzhou Municipal Development & Reform Commission said in an announcement that it had opened the doors for the public to share their opinions and suggestions about the establishment of the metaverse industrial ecosystem, according to Kitco website.

Zhengzhou’s metaverse proposals came within a framework of the Henan Province Metaverse Industry Development Action Plan (2022-2025), therefore the municipal government allocated a fund worth 10 billion yuan ($1.42 billion) to bolster growth and development in the industry.

The city’s government also eyes collaborating with other governmental agencies and investment companies to secure an additional 50 billion yuan ($7.08 billion) to support various metaverse-related development projects.

The government also announced that the metaverse companies, which will choose Zhengzhou as headquarters, will receive startup capital investment of up to 200 million yuan ($28.34 million) and maybe enjoy other benefits, including rent subsidies.

Metaverse enterprises refer to the research and development of underlying support technologies, terminal equipment manufacturing, and technical services in metaverse fields such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), digital twins, human-computer interaction, and brain-computer interface,” the policies in the announcement read. The policies also apply to companies that set up metaverse spaces in the areas of industry, education, cultural tourism, commerce, and trade.

Last week, the capital of China’s eastern Jiangsu province, Nanjing, opened the China Metaverse Technology and Application Innovation Platform to develop metaverse-related disciplines and promote wider and higher campus and school-enterprise development.

Also, a new report showed that the metaverse industry in China is flourishing as it is expected to hike by about 40% this year.

According to a recent report by Research and Market, the world’s largest market research store, on the Chinese metaverse market and its future, the metaverse industry in China is predicted to increase by 39.5% on an annual basis to reach $1,06,102.8 million in 2023, a matter which shows the significant growth of the metaverse in the Asian country.