According to incomplete statistics, as of December 2024, there are about 239 VR/AR-related policies in China, involving 26 provinces and municipalities. Among them, the national level accounts for 15, accounting for 6% of the total policies.

In addition, among the domestic provinces and cities, Zhejiang Province has issued the most VR/AR-related policies, with a total of 72 related policies, accounting for 30% of the total; followed by Guangdong Province, with 19 policies issued, accounting for 8%; and Jiangsu Province ranks third, with 17 related policies issued, accounting for 7%.

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National Level

In 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and other departments have repeatedly mentioned in their issued policies the strengthening of the application of VR/AR technology in various fields:

In January, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and ten other departments issued the "Notice on Carrying Out the "Signal Upgrade" Special Action", emphasizing the strengthening of immersive tourism applications of VR/AR in cultural and tourism scenarios;

The General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Developing the Silver-Haired Economy and Promoting the Well-being of the Elderly", encouraging the use of virtual reality and other technologies to carry out demonstrations and experiences of elderly products and services, and to create new smart and healthy elderly care formats;

In April, the Office of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, in conjunction with the Office of the Ministry of Education, issued the "Notice on Carrying Out the 2024 Annual "Major Ideological and Political Course" Quality Resource Construction and Promotion Work with Revolutionary Relics as the Theme", emphasizing the launch of AR/VR interactive experiences in digital dissemination education;

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Beijing Municipal People's Government jointly issued the "Construction Plan for Zhongguancun World-Leading Science and Technology Park (2024-2027)", emphasizing the need to build a world-influential industrial cluster, proactively deploy new tracks for future industries, accelerate breakthroughs in underlying key core technologies in the metaverse field such as virtual reality terminals and three-dimensional digital content, and accelerate the empowerment of virtual reality technology to the cultural tourism, urban, and industrial fields;

In May, the Cyberspace Administration of China and two other departments jointly issued the "Informatization Standard Construction Action Plan (2024-2027)", stating that they will promote the development of standards in key areas, and in the field of digital culture, strengthen the research and development of standards for technologies such as holographic imaging, high-definition format films, virtual reality, multilingual interaction, and high-fidelity audio and video experience;

In June, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the "Measures on Creating New Consumption Scenarios and Cultivating New Consumption Growth Points", stating that they will create new generation trendy toy gathering places, support the creation of a number of new performing arts spaces, and promote the innovation of cultural and entertainment formats such as virtual reality (VR) experiences;

In August, the Ministry of Transport issued the "Notice on the Management Measures for Emergency Drills for Urban Rail Transit Operation Emergencies", emphasizing that the Ministry of Transport should organize the establishment of national-level urban rail transit emergency drill centers by region, and the drill centers should have emergency drill-specific simulation systems established using three-dimensional scene construction and virtual reality technology;

In December, the Ministry of Commerce and six other departments jointly issued the "Notice on the Implementation Plan for the Retail Industry Innovation and Upgrading Project", emphasizing the exploration of using artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, and other technologies to create new digital consumption scenarios such as cloud shopping, cloud shopping, and cloud experiences;

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and two other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Guide for Digital Transformation of Manufacturing Enterprises", emphasizing the need to guide enterprises to use virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to create simulation models of product processing processes in a digital environment to promote the digital transformation of R&D and design.

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It is not difficult to see from the relevant policies that in 2024, the country is committed to promoting the application of VR/AR technology in various fields, covering many scenarios such as cultural tourism, elderly care, education, digital dissemination, cultural entertainment, industry, transportation, consumption, and enterprise R&D.

The national-level support for VR/AR technology will not only expand the application space of industry technology but also help build a complete VR/AR industrial ecosystem.

On the one hand, policy support will attract more enterprises to enter the VR/AR field, forming an industrial cluster effect, reducing production costs, and improving industrial competitiveness.

On the other hand, policy support will also promote the coordinated development of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain, strengthen technological cooperation and exchanges, and promote the development of the industry chain towards high-end and intelligent directions. This will help to form a virtuous industrial ecosystem and lay the foundation for the long-term development of VR/AR technology.

Local Governments

At the same time, in response to the national call, local governments have also introduced relevant policies.

As one of the central cities of virtual reality in the Yangtze River Delta region, Zhejiang is also the province with the most policy releases this year. At the end of 2023, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology and four other departments jointly issued the "Zhejiang Provincial Virtual Reality and Industry Application Integration Development Action Plan (2023-2027)", providing a clear policy orientation and support for the development of the virtual reality industry.

The action plan clearly states that by 2027, the scale of Zhejiang's virtual reality and related industries will exceed 100 billion yuan, the supply capacity of the entire industrial chain will be significantly improved, and the integration and application with thousands of industries will be continuously deepened. In 2024, this plan is being further implemented.

Among them, Hangzhou, as the provincial capital of Zhejiang, has also achieved remarkable results in the virtual reality industry. In particular, the construction of "China Vision Valley".

On November 21, the Hangzhou Municipal Government made a presentation on "China Vision Valley: A New Landmark for Hangzhou's Digital Economy Industry" at the 2024 World Internet Conference Digital Economy Industry Cooperation Conference. Currently, China Vision Valley has become a new landmark for Hangzhou's digital economy industry. The scale of the visual intelligence industry in this region is continuously expanding and has become integrated with Hangzhou's urban development genes.

Now, the construction and completion of projects such as the "Vision Valley Window" industrial complex have further promoted the development of Zhejiang's virtual reality industry. In industrial production, education and training, cultural tourism, e-commerce, sports and health, smart cities, and competitive entertainment, Zhejiang has created a number of replicable and promotable innovative demonstration application scenarios.

Following Guangdong, which ranks second in terms of publicly available policy releases, significant achievements were made in the virtual reality (VR) industry in 2024.

In February, the Guangdong Provincial Government released the "Guangdong Provincial Action Plan for Cultivating and Developing Future Electronic Information Industry Clusters," which clearly stated the need to accelerate the development of new generation electronic information strategic pillar industry clusters and increase investment and research and development in emerging technologies such as virtual reality.

In April, the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission released the "2024 Guangdong Provincial Application Scenario Opportunity List," which included several application scenario opportunity projects involving virtual reality technology, providing strong support for the implementation and application of virtual reality technology.

In addition, Guangdong Province is actively promoting the construction of a new regional development pattern of "one core, one belt, and one zone," strengthening the coordinated development between the Pearl River Delta region and Hong Kong and Macau, and the eastern, western, and northern Guangdong regions and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, to jointly promote the development of the virtual reality industry.

In May 2024, the "2024 Virtual Reality Industry-Education Integration High-Quality Development Forum" was held at Baiyun College in Guangdong. The forum marked the establishment of the Greater Bay Area Virtual Reality Public Industry College, signifying a solid step forward in industry-education integration in Guangdong's virtual reality field.

At the end of last year, Jiangsu also released an action plan, the "Jiangsu Metaverse Industry Development Action Plan (2024-2026)", which clearly stated the need to accelerate the research and development and application of key technologies such as virtual reality, and to promote the rapid development of the metaverse industry.

The action plan set a target of exceeding 100 billion yuan in metaverse industry scale and an average annual growth rate of over 20%, emphasizing the development of key metaverse areas such as AR/VR/MR (Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality/Mixed Reality).

On this basis, in May of this year, Suzhou's list of major application scenarios for the metaverse was officially released, exploring the promotion of deep integration between the metaverse and the real economy through application scenario needs.

Through procedures such as public solicitation, scenario sorting, expert review, and online announcement, a list of major metaverse application scenario needs for Suzhou in 2024 was selected, focusing on areas with a high degree of fit, such as industry, medicine, tourism, education, and smart cities. Solutions are solicited from various research institutes, universities, and key enterprises to promote the matching of supply and demand in application scenarios and accelerate the construction of Suzhou's metaverse industry development system.

In August, the 2024 Jiangsu Future Industry Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition finals, guided by the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission and hosted by Jiangsu High-Tech Investment Group, were successfully held in Nanjing. The competition focused on several future industries, including virtual reality, discovering and unearthing projects with high technological content and good market prospects.

These projects have not only injected new vitality into Jiangsu Province's virtual reality industry development but have also promoted the innovation and application of related technologies.

Overall, the VR/AR-related policies in 2024 show the following characteristics:

National-level policies and local policies work together. While providing macro-guidance and support for the development of the VR/AR industry, local governments are also actively responding, issuing specific policy measures based on local conditions, forming a multi-level and wide-coverage policy system.

Relevant policies not only focus on the research and development and innovation of VR/AR technology but also actively promote its application expansion in various fields. For example, the tourism, education, medical, and sports sectors have become important directions for the application of VR/AR technology. Policies encourage the creation of immersive experience new scenarios in these fields to enhance user experience and service quality.

Policies clearly state the need to strengthen the research and development and innovation of VR/AR technology and the cultivation of digital economy talent, promoting key technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading. This helps to enhance China's international competitiveness in the VR/AR industry and form core technologies and products with independent intellectual property rights.

Relevant policies encourage the construction of VR/AR industrial parks to create industrial development highlands. By optimizing industrial layout, improving supporting facilities, and providing policy support, more enterprises and talents are attracted to settle in the parks, forming an industrial agglomeration effect. It also focuses on promoting the coordinated development of the VR/AR industry with other industries, such as the integrated application with 5G, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing.

Policies encourage the implementation of VR/AR application demonstration projects, promoting the widespread application of technology in various industry sectors. At the same time, attention is also paid to the formulation and promotion of VR/AR technology standards to improve the interoperability and compatibility of technology and promote the standardized development of the industry.

With the continuous maturity of technology and the continuous expansion of application scenarios, the market size of the VR/AR industry is expected to achieve rapid growth. With policy support, upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain will receive more support and guidance, promoting the development of the entire industry to a higher level. It is expected that in 2025, the global VR/AR market size will reach a new height, and China, as an important market, will also achieve a significant increase in market size.