On 17 November 2022, the Faculty of Finance of the City University of Macao held the Finance Seminar Series [10] Hengqin-Macao Cross-Border Finance Seminar – Forth Talk at the Ho Yin Convention Centre. Professor Shiqi Tang, Dean of Hengqin Innovative Financial Research Institute, Chairman of Expert Committee of Zhuhai Entrepreneurs Association, Postgraduate supervisor of Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Sun Yat-Sen University, Jinan University and other Macao Universities, and member of Fintech and Algorithm Professional Committee of China Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, was invited to deliver a speech titled “Metaverse and Metaverse Finance”. Guests attending this seminar include Dean Adrian Cheung and Associate Dean Eva Khong, City University of Macao.
Professor Tang introduced an overview of the metaverse industry. Meta means beyond, Verse means the universe, and the combination of the two words means a virtual universe beyond the real universe. The metaverse integrates a series of modern science and technology to create a virtual world beyond reality and parallel to it. It is a brand-new digital space for people's life and economic development, absorbing the information revolution, 5G6G Internet revolution, web3.0, artificial intelligence revolution, and XR (VR, AR, MR). In particular, the achievements of virtual narrative technology revolution, including game engines, have shown human beings the possibility of constructing a holographic digital world parallel to the traditional physical world, triggered the interaction of information science, quantum science, life science and mathematics, and changed the scientific paradigm.
Professor Tang also cited the analysis of the metaverse by different professional institutions, which showed that the metaverse has five basic characteristics, six major technologies, seven value spaces and eight key elements. The five characteristics are realistic immersion experience, complete world structure, huge economic value, new operating rules and potential uncertainty; The six technologies include blockchain, man-machine delivery, video games, artificial intelligence, network and computing, and digital twins; The seven value spaces include infrastructure and human-computer interaction infrastructure, development tools in decentralization and spatial computing, and application products and operation ecology in three parts: creator economy, discovery and experience; The eight factors are identity, friends, immersion, low latency, diversity, location, economy, and civilization.
Professor Tang shared the financial case of Baixin Bank with the students. At the end of the sharing session, the students took this valuable opportunity to actively pose questions related to the metaverse, and Professor Tang answered in detail. In the Seminar, students paid attention to the development opportunities of Hengqin metaverse, and gained a lot through the financial seminar series. The students also expressed their expectations for the sharing of the next finance seminar.