China’s industry ministry to work on standards for the metaverse

CHINA’S Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Monday (Sep 18) that it will form a working group to establish standards for the metaverse sector, as Beijing seeks to be a global standard setter for new technology.

The ministry released a draft proposal to form a working group for the metaverse – shared virtual worlds accessible via the Internet – on Monday. The proposal said the metaverse is one of the nine emerging tech sectors which China should strive to establish standards for.

The metaverse has become one of the hottest tech trends since 2021, but there is yet to be consensus on what qualifies as a metaverse despite the hype. This was an issue the MIIT highlighted in the proposal.

“(The metaverse industry) faces many challenges,” the MIIT said. “It is urgent to promote healthy and orderly development of the metaverse industry through standardisation and guidance.”

It added that the metaverse industry suffers from a lack of clear definitions, which had allowed some capitalists and companies to drum up speculation in the market.

The MIIT also described the metaverse as “an integrated innovation combining various cutting-edge technologies”. It said the metaverse will spur many innovative business models, new business opportunities and growth for the digital economy.