The 2025 Qingdao Virtual Reality Innovation Conference was held in the Laoshan district of Qingdao city, Shandong province, from Nov 21 to 22. It gathered innovators, industry leaders, researchers, and scholars to explore new frontiers in virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI).

The event aimed to pool global innovation resources, accelerate the transformation of technological achievements, deepen industry exchange, and advance the integration of VR and AI across sectors. It sought to inject fresh momentum into building a modern industrial system and position Qingdao as a national hub for digital economy development.

This year's conference featured a diverse lineup of activities, including a main forum and opening ceremony, sub-forums on integrated applications, a VR industry supply-demand matchmaking session, and a VR innovation competition.

One of the main highlights was the launch of the Qingdao Virtual Reality Innovation and Experience Center. This center blends more than ten cutting-edge technologies — such as VR, augmented reality, spatial computing, digital twins, holographic display, and virtual filming — with cultural storytelling.

Exhibits included an interactive light-and-shadow hall featuring letters from renowned scientist Qian Xuesen, a dome-screen digital sand table, an extended reality hardware holographic display platform, and a suspended sphere-screen flying theater that delivers a fully immersive "dream journey" powered by VR and AI.

During the conference, a special matchmaking event for companies in the VR sector took place. This session showcased breakthroughs in key technologies and scenario-based applications, strengthened collaboration between upstream and downstream players, and promoted the integration of large, medium, and small enterprises. The goal was to accelerate the process from technological verification to real-world deployment and commercial operation, bringing in more high-quality projects to Qingdao.

Since its launch in 2017, the Qingdao Virtual Reality Innovation Conference has grown into an influential platform for exchange and cooperation, serving Qingdao, Shandong province, and the national and global VR community.

As a prominent hub for VR development, Laoshan district is experiencing rapid growth in its VR and AI industries. By 2025, the combined output of these industries is projected to exceed 60 billion yuan ($8.42 billion), propelling key sectors of the digital economy toward a total value of nearly 120 billion yuan. The district hosts numerous high-end innovation platforms, including two major national-level innovation centers, which foster breakthroughs in core technologies and facilitate the commercialization of scientific achievements.

Looking ahead, Laoshan aims to advance both the VR and AI industries beyond the 100-billion-yuan mark while establishing a 5-billion-yuan industrial fund cluster. These efforts will further optimize the business environment and empower enterprise innovation.

The Qingdao Virtual Reality Innovation and Experience Center is launched on Nov 21 in Laoshan district of Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo by Wang Haibing/for chinadaily.com.cn]