1. The concept of industrial metaverse
Under the guidance of the new development concept, under the guidance of the new generation of information technology, with the help of the cross-border integration of various new technology groups in the new era, the industrial metaverse refers to the complex digital industrial economic system of "people, virtual space and real space" virtual and real mapping, interaction, integration, virtual promotion of reality, virtual and strong real industrial chain, whole industry chain, whole value chain (three chains) wisdom, collaboration, openness, service and interconnection in the industrial field, which is the landing and expansion of the metaverse in the industrial field. It is a new carrier for the integrated development of the digital economy and the real economy. As an important application scenario of the Metaverse, the main goal of the industrial metaverse is to realize the mapping of the industrial real world to the virtual world, and to realize the new development of industrial production in the virtual world. Compared to the consumer metaverse, the industrial metaverse places more emphasis on visualization, accuracy, and tuning. Rather than building new scenarios and experiences, the industrial metaverse is more focused on solving the exact problem in the exact scenario. With the rising popularity of the metaverse, the integrated development of the metaverse and industry has become an important trend, and the industrial metaverse has become an important starting point for promoting the digital and intelligent transformation of industry, accelerating the construction of new industrialization, and supporting the construction of a modern industrial system, which will bring new opportunities and challenges to industrial development.
At present, the technical system of the industrial metaverse is still in the stage of continuous evolution and development, mainly composed of spatio-temporal engine + real-time rendering + large-scale modeling technology, natural interaction technology, blockchain technology, network communication and computing technology, artificial intelligence technology, Internet of Things/sensing technology, digital twin technology, etc. Among them, the hot technologies of the industrial metaverse include 5G, computing power network, virtual reality/augmented reality technology, digital twin technology, artificial intelligence technology, blockchain technology, industrial metaverse platform and advanced computing.
2. Policies related to the industrial metaverse
Policy is undoubtedly one of the core driving forces for the development of the mainland's industrial metaverse industry. As the underlying technology continues to mature, the metaverse is gradually moving from science fiction to reality. Since 2022, the mainland's policy attitude towards the metaverse has gradually become clearer, and a large number of special policies for the metaverse have been introduced one after another, clearly including the metaverse as one of the key future industries, the development direction and goals have become clearer, and the top-level design of the industry has been accelerated. From the perspective of policy release, the level and time node of the special policy release of the mainland metaverse industry generally show an "inverted triangle" structure, first at the district (county) level, followed by cities above the prefecture and city level, third, at the provincial level, and finally with national guidance. As an important application scenario of the Metaverse, the industrial metaverse has received great attention from the central government, and policy support has been increasing. As early as October 2022, the Industrial Culture Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the mainland took the lead in establishing the Industrial Metaverse Collaborative Development Organization with social groups and industry leading and backbone enterprises in the field of industrial Metaverse, and released the "Industrial Metaverse Innovation and Development Action Plan (2022-2025)" document, proposing to strive to achieve 3 through 3 years of efforts, with the goal of technical reserves, standard development, application cultivation and ecological construction of the industrial Metaverse, and through four actions such as improving innovation capabilities 100: Form 100 replicable typical cases to provide standard templates for application promotion; Create 100 benchmark applications of the industrial metaverse and provide high-level demonstration of the metaverse in the industrial field; Build 100 empowerment innovation centers, and promote the construction of a number of "industrial metaverse + vertical industries" industrial metaverse open platform. This document provides direction and guidance for the development of the industrial metaverse in mainland China in recent years. Subsequently, in September 2023, the mainland's first national-level special policy for the metaverse - the "Three-year Action Plan for the Innovation and Development of the Metaverse Industry (2023-2025)" was promulgated, which clearly stated that by 2025, the development of the industrial metaverse will achieve initial results, create a number of typical applications, and form a batch of benchmark production lines, factories, and parks. Accelerate the layout of the industrial metaverse in key industries and explore three measures for the innovative application mode of the industrial metaverse.
The association is also constantly accelerating the formulation of group standards and accelerating the process of standardization of the metaverse. As of July 2023, metaverse enterprises across the country have participated in the drafting of 215 standards, including 161 group standards. In December 2021, the Zhongguancun Digital Media Industry Alliance released the country's first Metaverse group standard "Metaverse Terminology and Communication Specifications", followed by "Urban Space Metaverse Reference Architecture and Technical Specifications", "Metaverse VR/AR and AI Technology 3D Real Person Real-time Scene Interaction System", "Metaverse Interoperable 3D Scene Description Terms" and other group standards have been released one after another. In the field of industrial metaverse segmentation, in 2023, the China Communications Standards Association will take the lead in establishing the group standard "Industrial Blockchain Industrial Metaverse Reference Architecture and Technical Requirements". In February 2024, the Industrial Metaverse Collaborative Development Organization announced the drafting and formulation of the group standard for the "Industrial Metaverse Data Application Guide". In March 2024, the Metaverse Working Committee of China Electronics Industry Standardization Technology Association, together with China Electronics Standardization Institute and Qingtian County People's Government, organized a group standard seminar on "Industrial Metaverse Reference Architecture" in Qingtian County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province. The continuous improvement of the standard system in the future will lay a solid foundation for the standardized development of the industrial metaverse and promote the rapid development and application of industrial metaverse technology.
3. The market size and application of the industrial metaverse
According to Precedence Research, the global industrial metaverse market will reach $18.37 billion in 2023, of which the hardware market will be about $7.9 billion, accounting for 43%. From the perspective of regional scale, industrial development is mainly concentrated in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. In the Chinese market, the maturity of each product in the upstream and midstream links of the metaverse has been greatly improved, which effectively supports the realization of downstream application scenarios. New business formats such as Metaverse + industry and Metaverse + tourism have emerged one after another, and the industrial ecology has become increasingly prosperous. The metaverse reshapes the boundary between virtual and reality, breaks the limitations of space and time in the physical world, and will bring more possibilities for the digital transformation of industry, cultural tourism and other industries, and help the high-quality development of the industry. In recent years, with the strong support of policies, the mainland's industrial metaverse has achieved rapid development, and the market size has successfully exceeded 17 billion yuan. According to CCID Consulting data, the market size of the mainland's industrial metaverse in 2023 will be 17.50 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.0%, mainly distributed in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Fujian and other eastern regions with more complete infrastructure, while the development of the western region is relatively slow.
The evolution, integration, and application of a new generation of information technology will help the industrial metaverse continue to deepen and become real. At present, the industrial metaverse has played a functional advantage in many important scenarios. From the perspective of the level of the industrial system, the industrial metaverse has realized the application of equipment, production line, factory, and industrial chain, all of which have greatly promoted the improvement of quality, cost reduction and efficiency of enterprises, the governance of the service industry chain and the optimization of the supply chain. From the perspective of the whole life cycle of products, the industrial metaverse has been applied to varying degrees in the R&D, production, management, sales, and training stages of products. The application of metaverse-related technologies in the industrial field will empower various scenarios in the life cycle of industrial products, which can effectively promote the intelligent upgrading of the industrial field, and its application value will be much greater than that in the consumer field.
Note: This article is excerpted from the industry analysis article "Analysis of the Status Quo and Future Trend of China's Industrial Metaverse Industry in 2024: The Industry is Developing Rapidly, with a Market Size of Over 17 Billion Yuan [Figure]" released by Zhiyan Consulting.
The "2024 China Industrial Metaverse Industry Special Research Report" released by Zhiyan Consulting is based on authoritative data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, government agencies, and industry associations, combined with the collection and analysis of in-depth research data, expert feedback data, internal operation data and other global data to improve the efficiency of customers' business decision-making. This report makes an in-depth investigation and research on the current situation and market of China's industrial metaverse industry, and makes a prudent judgment on the future development prospects and trends according to the development trajectory of the industry, providing a crucial decision-making reference for investors to find new market investment opportunities and enter the investment layout of the industrial metaverse industry.
Zhiyan Consulting has been focusing on industrial consulting for 15 years and is a professional service organization in the field of industrial consulting in China. The company takes "driving industrial development with information and empowering enterprise investment decision-making" as its brand concept. Provide professional industrial consulting services for enterprises, including high-quality industry research reports, special customization, monthly topics, feasibility study reports, business plans, industrial planning, etc. Provide weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual reports and other regular reports and customized data, covering policy monitoring, corporate dynamics, industry data, product price changes, investment and financing overview, market opportunities and risk analysis, etc.