A man using virtual reality equipment Photo: VCG

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) plans to cultivate a group of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enter the metaverse and other emerging fields, accelerating economy-wide digitalization.

Speaking on the sidelines of the press conference on Monday, Liang Zhifeng, director of the Bureau of the SMEs of the MIIT, said authorities were focused on promoting new infrastructure and vigorously developing the digital economy, while offering guidance and support SMEs to accelerate the process of digital industrialization and industrial digital through innovation and entrepreneurship.

The ministry official pledged to cultivate a group of innovative SMEs to enter the high-end digital industries including the metaverse, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging fields.

As part of the efforts to unleash the market potential of the metaverse, Liang said that the ministry will cultivate a number of digital-industrialization-specialized SMEs.

Increased attention should be paid to cultivating a group of domestic enterprises deeply engaged in the professional fields of industrial internet, software, network and data security, smart sensors and other aspects, Liang said.

The metaverse has been in the public spotlight since late last year, rising up the agenda of many big tech firms around the world from US' Facebook, Microsoft to China's ByteDance and Tencent.

As a global leader in internet applications and early pioneer for 5G technology, as well as the largest nation of mobile users, China has a natural interest in embracing the metaverse , experts said.

Moreover, leading and core enterprises will be supported to exploit overseas market as a driving force for boosting the development of the industrial supply chain.