Nanchang looking toward a VR future

Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, has made great strides in developing its virtual reality industry by strengthening cooperation with research institutes and universities, introducing big-name companies and improving the industrial supply chain.

To enhance research and development into the VR sector, Nanchang is working with a number of renowned technology labs, institutes and universities, namely the State Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems, the China Center for Information Industry Development, the Beijing Institute of Technology and Tsinghua University and Sun Yat-sen University.

The city is now home to more than 50 leading VR companies, including Tsinghua Unigroup, an enterprise unit of Tsinghua University, Beijing Wangku Information Technology and Shenzhen O-film Tech, a producer of optical components.

According to the local government, Nanchang has attracted 22 projects in the VR technology hardware manufacturing and software development sectors, worth a total contracted value of 7.73 billion yuan ($1.12 billion).

In cooperation with Beijing Wangku Information Technology, the city has also established an e-commerce platform for selling VR products online. So far, 3,326 companies are involved and a transaction value of 66.17 billion yuan has been achieved, the government said.

Chen Jingui, general manager of Beijing Wangku's Jiangxi operations center, said the e-commerce platform thoroughly vets suppliers and tests the products on sale so that quality is assured.

This platform has the potential to become a new economic driver for Nanchang, help boost integrated development and facilitate the city's economic restructuring and upgrading, according to officials at Nanchang's commission of industry and information Technology.

The city has a strong industrial base for VR development, with related sectors such as the electronic information, software research and development, games, animation and creative design industries already established there.

In 2017, the operating revenue generated by Nanchang's electronic information industry hit 88.23 billion yuan, marking the sixth year of growth averaging 38.4 percent.

zhangdandan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/19/2018 page12)