At present, the metaverse has attracted great attention in the industry. With the entry of domestic and foreign industrial giants, the industrial environment and development pattern of the metaverse have changed greatly. The effective integration and coordination of industrial resources in the rapid development, strengthening exchanges on technologies and information communication, and creating an interconnected, mutually beneficial, and mutually compatible metaverse ecosystem have become the core issues of common concern in the related industries.

On January 2, 2022, the First Metaverse Industry and Technology Seminar sponsored by Metaverse Industry and Technology Alliance (MITA) kicked off in Beijing. Experts, scholars and enterprise managers from the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum, China Mobile Research Institute, China Unicom Research Institute, HTC, Lenovo Research Institute, GSMA, ZTE, Qualcomm, Migu, iCloud Wisdom Technology Co., Ltd., Alibaba Research Institute, China Railway Gecent Technology Co., Ltd., University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and other fields of metaverse ecology, government, industry, study, research and application gathered here. Focusing on the development vision of 5G-Advanced and 6G, participants discussed their application and development in the consumption field and industrial field under the metaverse ecosystem. They also exchanged ideas to sort out the metaverse vision, industry development trend, key technical characteristics and KPI of implementation technology, software and hardware equipment development and scenario applications.

The site of the seminar

Mei Jianping, Deputy Director of the Department of High and New Technology of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC, pointed out in his speech, "The metaverse integrates social, economic and cultural factors to further deepen the integration of mankind, machine and material, which is conducive to accelerating the deeper integration of industrial ecology. Behind the scene depicted by the metaverse is the frontier of science and technology. The value of the metaverse lies in the more substantial market superimposition and double-effect brought about by the deep integration of the real economy, which will drive the leapfrog development of the digital economy and digital industry."

Mei Jianping, Deputy Director of the Department of High and New Technology of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC

Xu Peng, Director of the High Technology Division of the Science and Technology Department in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, said in his speech, "The Report to the 20th CPC National Congress clearly pointed out that it is necessary to accelerate the development of the digital economy, further integrate it with the real economy, and build internationally competitive digital industry clusters. As the metaverse integrates 5G, AI, blockchain, VR and other new-generation information technologies, it can deeply integrate the digital world with the physical world, innovate the way humans interact with the world, and spawn new formats and industries. We should attach equal importance to industry cultivation and rule making, and steadily promote technological innovation and industrial development of metaverse."

Xu Peng, Director of High Technology Division of the Science and Technology Department in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China

Ni Guangnan, Academician of CAE, proposed in his keynote speech, "China is currently in a stage of high-speed technological development, and achieving high-quality self-reliance and strength in science and technology is a common goal of 1.4 billion Chinese people. The development of metaverse technology and industry will bring about new formats and models, as well as new opportunities and challenges to the development of the digital economy. I sincerely hope that metaverse technology and industry will flourish under the promotion of new information technologies, and that China's new technological standards will empower the industry, so that a better and stronger China can be seen by the world."

Ni Guangnan, Academician of CAE (online speech)

Zhang Xinsheng, Executive Vice President of the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum pointed out in his keynote speech, "The value of metaverse lies in its platform and users. It is the next generation of Internet and a collection of cutting-edge technologies, not a single technology, application or scenario. The metaverse is characterized by enhanced social interaction, decentralization, fusion of virtuality and reality, as well as permanent preservation and retrieval at any time. The development of the metaverse requires the promotion of five elements, including technology, standards, rules, interoperability and business models, and ultimately needs the application in various fields and industries."

Zhang Xinsheng, Executive Vice President of the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum

Huang Zhaoying, Global Vice President of HTC, introduced HTC's open metaverse ecosystem, VIVERSE, saying that HTC's VIVERSE includes hardware, content, software and services. According to Huang, HTC not only produces metaverse hardware but also invests a lot of resources in building an ecosystem, including cooperating with thousands of manufacturers around the world to develop innovative applications and investing in hundreds of technology companies. In recent years, HTC has assisted many enterprises to enter the metaverse and their application of the metaverse has shown an accelerating trend. Therefore, the metaverse is not just a future concept; it is already happening in all walks of life.

Huang Zhaoying, Global Vice President of HTC (online speech)

Tang Xiongyan, Vice President of China Unicom Research Institute, expressed his views on the development of the metaverse from the perspective of communication, "Based on today's development, the network infrastructure and computing infrastructure are fundamental to supporting the metaverse. All these activities such as human-computer interaction, digital transactions, or content creation depend upon a reliable infrastructure. Therefore, promoting the construction of the entire computing network infrastructure is crucial to realize the development of the metaverse."

Tang Xiongyan, Vice President of China Unicom Research Institute

Mao Shijie, Vice President of Lenovo Group and Head of Lenovo Research Shanghai, shared Lenovo's metaverse solutions and application cases in the industry, "The industrial metaverse should help reduce the construction cost through technical means and improve the application value by introducing virtual-real linkage and intelligent applications. When both cost and value reach a good state, the industry metaverse will have greater potential for further development.

Mao Shijie, Vice President of Lenovo Group and Head of Lenovo Research Shanghai (online speech)

Bi Yana, Technical Director of China Mobile Research Institute, introduced China Mobile's plan to build an industrial collaborative innovation base and a metaverse laboratory based on the existing experimental system, "The metaverse laboratory will be built with commercial demand as a guide, cloud network capabilities and blockchain platforms as core infrastructure. Through joint development, demonstrations, pilots and other means, the laboratory will promote the maturity of key metaverse capabilities and achieve product incubation and large-scale application, thus making contributions to nurturing an independent and controllable metaverse industry ecosystem for China."

Bi Yana, Technical Director of China Mobile Research Institute

Pang Ce, General Manager of Strategic Cooperation of GSMA Greater China, said in his speech, "The operators and related ecosystems in China will be an important driving force for the development of the metaverse. This year, the three largest Chinese telecom operators ranked first, second, and third in the global ranking of telecom operators, which is released every two years by GSMA. I noticed that China has great potential, especially after the 20th CPC National Congress. The operators are playing the role of "leaders" in the ICT industrial chain. We believe that the operator ecosystem can better promote the development of the metaverse."

Pang Ce, General Manager of Strategic Cooperation of GSMA Greater China

Xu Hao, Head of R&D of Qualcomm China, pointed out in his speech, "From a communications perspective, the metaverse we define is a fusion of the real world, virtual world and physical world. 5G, AI and XR are the three core technologies for building a metaverse, and there are many technological challenges in the process of building a metaverse. In collaboration with partners from various industries, we are looking forward to promoting technological innovation and evolution and creating a more immersive, intelligent and connected future."

Xu Hao, Head of R&D of Qualcomm China (online speech)

Li Lin, General Manager of Technical Service Business Group of Migu Company, shared Migu's thoughts and exploration in the metaverse field. Li stressed that the metaverse can be divided into three parts: The first one is the real world. At present, media on the Internet often use technological means to provide content in the real world. The second one is the virtual world, including digital twins and virtual natives. The third one is the integration and interaction between the virtual world and the real world, including interactions between people, interactions between real humans and virtual beings, and integration and interaction between humans and objects.

Li Lin, General Manager of Technical Service Business Group of Migu Company

Li Jun, Deputy General Manager of China Railway Gecent Technology Co., Ltd., shared his ideas on the development of the railway metaverse. According to him, in combination with the in-transit services of high-speed railway travel and focusing on VR, digital cultural creativity and digital life in the metaverse, Gecent has built a "China Railway Metaverse" platform to promote application development with the most realistic and applicable business module in the metaverse at present. The platform mainly covers a VR/AR-based play control management platform and screening hall, digital product exhibition hall, and will gradually incorporate virtual humans and their communities, holographic image technology, and other functions.

Li Jun, Deputy General Manager of China Railway Gecent Technology Co., Ltd. (online speech)

Yan He, CTO of iCloud Wisdom Technology Co., Ltd., thought that compared with the metaverse as a whole, the educational metaverse has unique features. He explained that education is a unique social phenomenon in human society. The essence of education is to carry out social activities for cultivating people consciously and purposefully, which is the fundamental characteristic that distinguishes education from other things. Therefore, the scenario of the educational metaverse must conform to the law of education itself, and the content of the educational metaverse should also be selected carefully.

Yan He, CTO of iCloud Wisdom Technology Co., Ltd. (online speech)

Su Zhong, Director of the Future Technology Center of Alibaba Research Institute said that the metaverse will bring changes to this era. Every generation of the Internet would nurture new applications, platforms and enterprises, and industry giants must pay attention to the development of the metaverse because there will be many disruptive effects under the big waves. We can look forward to the next generation of the Internet in which China will take the lead.

Su Zhong, Director of Future Technology Center of Alibaba Research Institute

Xia Hongfei, Chief Planning Engineer of ZTE New Media/XR, believed that XR can reshape the form of information interaction and the value of industrial factors, stating that in the future, ZTE will continue to make breakthroughs in new technologies and provide more advanced and easy-to-use digital platforms and technological components for industries. It will jointly explore digital applications in industries with industry partners, participate in the construction of an industrial ecosystem, and establish win-win cooperation with customers and industry partners.

Xia Hongfei, Chief Planning Engineer of ZTE New Media/XR (online speech)

Wu Gang, Professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) believed that wireless communication was the core of connection in the metaverse according to the analysis of the current ecological map of the metaverse where operators, equipment vendors and terminal manufacturers all play a very important role. Some manufacturers have taken 5G, 6G and even integration with 6G as an important pillar for the future development of the metaverse. From the perspective of core elements of the metaverse, wireless communication plays a crucial role in three key aspects, including decentralized channels, critical equipment for human-machine interfaces, and supporting technology for infrastructure, said Professor Wu.

Wu Gang, Professor at UESTC (online presentation)

During the seminar, core initiators of Metaverse Industry and Technology Alliance such as FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum, HTC, China Mobile Research Institute, China Unicom Research Institute, Migu, Beijing Jiaotong University, Lenovo and ZTE jointly discussed the articles of the alliance and follow-up work objectives.

It is reported that Metaverse Industry and Technology Alliance will also work with more industry experts, scholars and enterprise managers to explore and promote the implementation of metaverse technology and industrial applications. Together, they will investigate the needs of all parties, mobilize relevant resources, and solve key problems, thus achieving shared growth through communication and collaboration at a faster pace in China's metaverse industry.