Beijing aims to be a worldwide standards-setter for emerging technologies. Thus, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technologies (MIIT) of China announced on Monday that it will create a working group to define standards for the metaverse industry.
On Monday, the ministry unveiled a draft plan to establish a working group for the metaverse, a collection of online shared virtual worlds. According to the plan, one of the nine developing digital industries for which China should work to develop standards is the metaverse.
Since 2021, the metaverse has become one of the most popular technological innovations. However, despite the excitement, there is still no agreement on what constitutes a metaverse, a problem the MIIT emphasized in their suggestion.
The MIIT stated that “[the metaverse industry] faces many challenges,” and that “it is urgent to promote healthy and orderly development of the metaverse industry through standardization and guidance.”
The lack of precise definitions in the metaverse industry, it was stated, has allowed some businesspeople and corporations to fuel market speculation.
The MIIT referred to the metaverse as “an integrated innovation combining various cutting-edge technologies.” According to the report, the metaverse will give rise to several novel business models, fresh commercial prospects, and expansion of the digital economy.