Currently, the new term "metaverse" is frequently trending, and with the rapid development of technologies such as virtual reality, online games, cloud computing, and digital twins, the outline of the metaverse is becoming increasingly apparent. When art and science encounter the metaverse, what kind of sparks will collide?
On the afternoon of October 25th, as one of the "Campus Enterprise Tour" series activities of the 2021 National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week Beijing Branch and Chuangxiang China · Tsinghua University Station, the launch ceremony of the "Metaverse Special Plan" of the 4th "Beijing Tianjin Hebei Guangdong Hong Kong Macao" Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition Art and Technology Track was held at Tsinghua University. At the opening ceremony, the Tsinghua University Art and Technology Innovation Base officially launched the "Metaverse Special Plan". In the future, The plan will focus on the theme of "Art Metaverse" and use Roblox or other technological carriers to express conceptual design, presenting design works in areas such as Future Science Museum, Future Museum, Space Exploration, Future City, and Cultural Heritage.
Big shots gather to discuss the "metaverse" and look forward to the new era
What is the metaverse? Although the meta universe is still in the conceptual stage, thanks to the Internet, 5G, big data, VR, AR and other technologies, the meta universe has created the possibility for human beings to build a holographic digital world parallel to the traditional physical world, and will also be one of the development directions of the next generation of digital economy transformation mode.
Ren Hechun, Director of the Network Science Popularization Department of the China Science and Technology Museum, believes that it is necessary to introduce the concept of "metaverse" into future museums and science museums when sharing the experience of "digital venues". Due to the emergence of technologies such as 2D, 3D, and virtual reality, more exhibits can be presented in digital form and permanently preserved, extending the tentacles of museum exhibitions to more areas. At the same time, most of the collections in museums are precious and rare, and cannot be touched up close. The combination of virtual and real displays also provides a more diverse way for the audience to interact with the collections.
"Digital fashion may have been just a fresh marketing tool in the past, but after the outbreak of the epidemic, we have found that it is gradually appearing in our real lives," Professor Ding Zhaochen, Director of the New Media System at Beijing Institute of Fashion, said in a sharing of "Digital Fashion After 2020- An Activated Fashion Landscape". Due to the impact of the epidemic, global fashion conferences have inevitably ushered in a new era of "physical+digital shows", International major brands are gradually abandoning traditional fashion shows and adopting digital alternatives such as movies.
In the definition of the metaverse, "identity, social relationships, immersive experience, low latency, diversity, anywhere, economic cycle, and etiquette civilization" are the most common characteristics. Roblox, dedicated to connecting the world, currently has 8 million developers who create millions of games and share them with billions of players worldwide, precisely covering these characteristics of the metaverse. Duan Zhiyun, Vice President of Roblox, mentioned in his sharing of "The Metaverse and Roblox" that Roblox will provide contemporary college students with an opportunity to cultivate their own youth leadership, while exploring the Z generation of metaverse navigators and building an open and inclusive community of university creators.
"We hope to encourage young people to face a future perspective, with the goal of creating new advantages in the digital economy, and to launch new concepts and product services under the concept of the 'metaverse'. Liu Pei, the General Coordinator of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education at Tsinghua University and Deputy Secretary General of the China University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance, said in his speech that the base will guide students to use the integration of science, technology, and art to stimulate talent creativity.", Effectively implement innovative applications in new infrastructure.
Young college students inject "driving force" into entrepreneurship with hardcore technology
The organizer of this event, relying on the "NS Plan" Entrepreneurship Star Program initiated by the China University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance, held a special entrepreneurship training camp. This training camp received strong support from the Ningbo High level Talent Service Center, and we specially invited Huang Shaojie, Deputy Director of the Ningbo High level Talent Service Center, to give a detailed introduction to the policies and services for college student entrepreneurship teams to land in Ningbo, allowing us to feel the unique charm of the talent development environment in Ningbo. At the same time, the training camp also invited entrepreneurship mentors and alliance entrepreneurship mentors from national level entrepreneurship demonstration bases of enterprises such as State Grid and Tencent to provide guidance and resource docking on the six most distinctive entrepreneurial projects of the Art and Science Base. A digital museum with multiple experiential experiences, a shared platform focused on mixed reality simulation technology, and intelligent bionic prosthetics dedicated to building an ecological service system for people with disabilities
"Our digital museum will revolve around the four principles of content construction: political correctness, knowledge, fun, and interactivity. Through multimedia technology, we will provide viewers with educational experiences, aesthetic experiences, immersive experiences, shared time experiences, future experiences, entertainment experiences, ritual experiences, and other various experiential methods." The founder of Youxiang Vision Digital Museum showed the audience on site, introducing that, When the audience watches the painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", they can first learn about the author's introduction, historical heritage, and comments from famous artists through the interactive screen, achieving an educational experience. At the same time, the museum will also create a full wall "digital gallery" through projection, create a CAVE space through four sided projection, create an immersive experience space, and allow the audience to "touch" the digital exhibition more closely. Finally, by taking a group photo with the theme image of the digital exhibition content, the audience can feel a sense of ceremony.
If VR (virtual reality) creates virtual spaces and AR (augmented reality) simply overlays virtual information onto the real world, then MR (mixed reality) technology blurs the boundary between virtual and real worlds. The establishment of the Lingjing World MR Content Creation and Sharing Platform has precisely opened up a "simulation path" towards the "metaverse". The founder of the team mentioned during a roadshow that this platform has unique maker tools, broadcasting synthesizers, and content cloud platforms, which can achieve multiple application scenarios such as conference direct broadcasting, internet celebrity sales, MR industry training, MR exhibition halls, virtual tour guides, etc.
The specialized casting technology team from Tsinghua University combines "fully bionic mechanical structure" with "AI customization and control" to make bionic prosthetics more flexible. But they are not limited to "hardware", they are also committed to producing and creating comprehensive intelligent rehabilitation and disability daily necessities, professional rehabilitation equipment, and building a closed-loop ecological service system for education and employment for rehabilitation and disability populations, fundamentally solving the employment and poverty problems of rehabilitation and disability populations.
It is understood that as one of the special actions of Tsinghua University to respond to the national "school enterprise action" of entrepreneurship driving employment, the "NS Plan" entrepreneurial star plan has successively carried out 7 online public benefit classes, project consultation, entrepreneurial training camps and other activities since its launch in early 2021, cultivating more than 60 entrepreneurial star teams, of which 5 project teams won the gold medal of the 7th China International "Internet plus" Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.
School enterprise cooperation cultivates more innovative and entrepreneurial projects
"The launch of the Metaverse Special Plan aims to leverage the resource advantages of the Art Metaverse to initiate research in the field of art and provide support for innovation and entrepreneurship projects in related fields." Fu Zhiyong, Director of the Art and Technology Innovation Base at Tsinghua University, introduced that after having a certain foundation in space, research can be conducted in the fields of art and technology, as well as digital entertainment. At the same time, support and support can be provided for innovation and entrepreneurship projects at the student level, "continuously enriching the exhibition content of the Art Metaverse Base, and ultimately forming a Metaverse centered on art and technology.".
It is reported that the Art and Technology Innovation Base of Tsinghua University was established at the end of 2017, focusing on creating a creative engine and collaborative platform for the integration of art and science. Centered around Tsinghua's goal of being more humanistic, innovative, and international, we integrate the values of design aesthetics into the cultivation of innovative talents, with the vision of cultivating start-up teams, upgrading design services, and innovating the cultural and creative industry. We are committed to creating an open and cross-border innovation ecosystem. Since its establishment, the Art and Entrepreneurship Base has hosted the "Beijing Tianjin Hebei Guangdong Hong Kong Macao" Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition Art and Technology Track, co hosted innovation and entrepreneurship competitions such as the China US Youth Maker Competition and the China Italy Youth Future Fashion Design Competition, organized multiple online and offline roadshows, salon forums, and international exchange activities. Currently, there are over 200 entrepreneurial teams with unique characteristics being trained.
The Beijing Tianjin Hebei Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is an international youth innovation and entrepreneurship competition jointly initiated by Tsinghua University and the China University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance. The Art and Technology Track, as one of the series of activities of the 2021 National Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week, has become a particularly representative sub event in the competition. The track aims to rely on the platform and resource advantages of the Art Science Base, with the theme of "Art Science Metaverse", to cultivate more excellent innovation and entrepreneurship projects.