For a researcher from China’s National Academy of Arts, the concept of the metaverse is still unclear and much clarity needs to emerge before its utility value can be established.
China now ranks second in global metaverse-related patent applications, with a nearly 30% share gathered through its 14,291 applications. This according to a report from the South Korean Intellectual Property Office.
China trails the United States, which has filed 17,293 applications. The data represent almost 36% of the total that covers the period from 2011 to 2020. South Korea ranks third with 7,808 applications, that is, 16% of the total.
Between 2016 and 2020, there were some 43,700 patent applications related to the metaverse and immersive content in the United States. This country was followed by South Korea, Japan, Europe and China. A curious fact is that the applications from Asian countries almost tripled with respect to those submitted in the previous five years.
The Metaverse Could Have Its “Golden Age” In China
In China, the metaverse is seen as a trending concept that loosely refers to an immersive virtual world, combining technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. Although still nascent, companies around the world have been making efforts to develop and invest in technologies related to the metaverse.
Another report by market consultancy Preqin said multiplicity of the metaverse is more likely than a shared global metaverse. Indeed, the Asia-Pacific region is more likely to see various local online worlds developed by various entities in China and South Korea.
The study further noted that from 2021 to November 2022, more VC deals were concluded in the AR and VR fields in China than in the United States.
He Chao, secretary general of the metaverse committee at the China Mobile Communication Association, an organization in Beijing, claims that the next decade will be a “golden age” for the development of the metaverse in China.
The Metaverse Interests Chinese Investors, but It Also Represents Risks
In November, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a plan to grow the market size of China’s virtual reality industry. In financial terms, market growth was estimated to exceed 350 billion yuan (50.4 billion dollars) by 2026.
The plan called for more efforts to create foundational technologies that support immersive AR, VR, and mixed reality experiences. While the plan did not explicitly mention the metaverse, all of these technologies are complementary metaverse.
Sun Jiashan, a researcher at the China National Academy of Arts, said the metaverse as a concept is still unclear and a lot of clarity needs to emerge. If this doesn’t change it will be difficult for the utility value of the metaverse to be established beyond the current hype, which some fear. In some cases, investments in the metaverse could generate capital bubbles.
By Audy Castaneda
