Since Facebook's announcement last October that it will rebrand to "Meta" as a reflection of its commitment to developing new metaverse-related technologies, the term "metaverse" has become one of the most common search trends.

"Metaverse is the future of the internet, the spacial internet," said Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm at WAIC 2022 in September in Shanghai.

Yang Jiansong, CEO of Linkon Technology located in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, said that spacial internet refers to the concept of projecting the virtual world onto the physical world. It enables the visual experience from 2D to 3D vision, providing more immersive experiences.

Metaverse: new internet trend

Metaverse integrates world-leading technology such as AR, 5G, AI, and cloud computation, covering the upstream and downstream industrial chains including intelligent terminals, computing and content. It is a new gateway to developing digital economy followed by mobile internet.

"Take AR glasses for example, a pair of AR glasses are valued at about $286. That's $2.86 million if 1 million customers buy them," said Yang Jiansong.

According to the Annual Report on Metaverse Development in China 2022, China's output in the metaverse upstream and downstream industry exceeds $5.73 billion, mainly focusing on games, entertainment, VR and AR hardware. In the next five years, China's metaverse market is expected to be worth at least $28.7 billion.

On top of the industrial chains, the metaverse also boosts the real economy, which can converge with smart manufacturing, agriculture, culture, tourism as well as exhibition.

Take smart manufacturing as an example, metaverse technology can complete the whole process of design, simulation and optimization before producing a new product, advancing the high-quality development of the industry.

Chongqing to seize digital entertainment metaverse opportunities

"The development of each generation's internet has the potential boost a city's wealth, such as Tencent did for Shenzhen and Alibaba did for Hangzhou. The metaverse brings such an opportunity to Chongqing," said Yang Jiansong.

Yang is of the opinion that Chongqing's metaverse development can grow out of digital entertainment. "Digital entertainment is a key part of everyday life, making it much easier to promote" he added.

Hailed as an "8D city" and known for its cyberpunk scenery, Chongqing is home to many resources suitable for the development of a digital entertainment metaverse.

Lincon Technology has established an early foothold in this field. Focusing on digital entertainment metaverse, Lincon has launched the world's first culture-related MR guide movie. It is also cooperating with Guizhou Telecom to build a digital entertainment metaverse. Relying on Lincon's space presentation of AR glasses and the operation platform of Guizhou Telecom, more applications like immersive mobile theaters, livestreams, short video browsing, split-screen games, e-books and other AR can be customized on the 5G screen.

However, the indispensable factor when it comes to improving metaverse is talent. "The reason why we choose to set up operation in Liangjiang New Area is because there is more IT talent," said Yang Jiansong.

Chongqing Liangjiang New Area is home to many huge software and information enterprises which have already formed a cluster of IT talent.

Liangjiang New Area is home to huge software and information enterprises. [Photo/Zhang Yi]