Xiamen 160 Billion Yuan Key Support for Metaverse Projects to Drive NFT Development and Application

The Xiamen Data Management Bureau issued the “Xiamen Accelerating the Development Action Plan for the Digital Economy (2024-2025)” yesterday. The plan points out that by 2025, in the core industries of the digital economy, the output value of the flat panel display industry will exceed 160 billion yuan; the output value of the integrated circuit industry will reach 40 billion yuan; the computer and communication equipment industry will lay a solid foundation for the development of a trillion-level industry; and the computing power of the intelligent computing center will exceed 1.1 EFLOPS.
In addition, accelerating the ecological layout of the metaverse industry, supporting the research and development of key hardware devices such as XR headsets and glasses-free 3D displays, and promoting the development and application of three-dimensional digital space, virtual digital humans, and NFT digital assets in urban management, and people’s livelihood services. Key support will be given to integrated circuits, third-generation semiconductors, artificial intelligence, metaverse, and information creation projects, and assistance will be provided to eligible enterprises to seek support from national funds.
In recent years, Xiamen has focused on the digital economy’s segmented areas, vigorously developing the metaverse industry, continuously emerging innovative technologies, and accelerating the landing of emerging scenarios. At the same time, policies have been continuously improved. Currently, measures such as “Several Measures for Accelerating the Development of Software and Emerging Digital Industries in Xiamen”, “Three-Year Action Plan for the Development of the Metaverse Industry in Xiamen (2022-2024)”, and “Several Measures to Promote the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry in Xiamen” have been issued to encourage the exploration of cutting-edge technologies.
The “Three-Year Action Plan for the Development of the Metaverse Industry in Xiamen” proposes the development goal of the “Metaverse Ecological Model City”, introducing and cultivating a group of metaverse companies that master key technologies and have revenues of over 100 million yuan, becoming the first cities in the country to issue policies related to metaverse development. Subsequently, the Metaverse Industry Alliance was established to promote the landing of the country’s first metaverse industry talent base in Xiamen.
Currently, Xiamen has gathered hundreds of companies in the industrial ecosystem, with over 10,000 related software copyrights, emerging leading enterprises, and creating a number of Xiamen brands in the fields of intelligent connected vehicles, smart drones, smart homes, etc. Secondly, at the cultural and tourism level, the action plan supports research institutes and enterprises in creating metaverse application scenarios with Xiamen’s characteristic elements. The Xiamen government has reached a strategic cooperation with China Mobile’s Migu to launch the “Gulangyu Metaverse”, leading the way in creating a benchmark demonstration project for cultural and tourism metaverses in China.
Furthermore, the 2023 Golden Rooster Film Festival and the Xiamen film and television industry have deeply integrated, reaching a total of 126 Xiamen cultural and film industry projects. The total contract amount reached 28.05 billion yuan, involving physical film and television, cultural and tourism integration, AI applications, film and television technology education, metaverse, and other diversified formats of Xiamen cultural and film industry. Now, the scale of Xiamen’s digital economy has reached 479 billion yuan, accounting for 61% of the GDP, and the scale of the Internet industry continues to grow rapidly, with more and more “seeds” sprouting and growing. The first batch of policies for software and emerging digital industries in Xiamen in 2024 has entered the review stage, with a total of 111 companies receiving subsidies, with the highest single award of up to 6 million yuan.