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Nanjing's Immersive Experiences Usher in a New Era for Cultural Heritage
2024-05-07 ICCSD

The Purpose

Nanjing recognises the potential presented by the ongoing technological revolution in digital development. Therefore, the city is working to leverage and transform its cultural offerings through these technological advancements.

The Challenge

To create a program utilising new digital technologies to enhance and market cultural heritage in Nanjing. These new forms of expression encompassed a wide range, from online performances and exhibitions to digital arts and immersive experiences. This transformation upgraded traditional business models and facilitated the integration of online and offline experiences.

The Solution

To support these evolving trends, Nanjing’s Cultural Industry Division initiated collaborations between leading digital enterprises and the city’s cultural industries. Simultaneously, the city nurtured its own emerging digital cultural enterprises. The overarching goal was to serve as an accelerator for digital development by capitalising on the concentration of financial, digital and cultural exhibition platforms within the city.

These efforts built upon some technological advancements that were already in progress before the pandemic. In April 2019, Nanjing witnessed the launch of the first 5G smart boat on the Qinhuai River, providing a 360-degree Virtual Reality and Cloud Virtual Reality experience to showcase the “Present and Past of Ten Miles Qinhuai.”

Furthermore, specific projects were undertaken as part of Nanjing’s commitment to enhancing its nighttime economy. For instance, the Confucius Temple Scenic Area began integrating emerging technologies and creative design to offer an immersive and vibrant nighttime experience. Confucius Temple also pioneered the application of immersive experiences within its themed hotels.

The Impact

As of late 2021, the result of these initiatives has been a significant increase in revenue for larger cultural enterprises across 16 new cultural business formats, including digital publishing, animation and multimedia. Collectively, these sectors have experienced a remarkable year-on-year growth rate of 25.9%. Additionally, there has been double-digit growth in various economic indicators within these industries, such as operating profit, total profit, and value-added tax payable.

By effectively merging new technologies with cultural heritage, Nanjing has successfully created “flagships” for the development of creative industries. These endeavours have also facilitated the integration of culture and tourism, ultimately benefiting the digitalisation of the cultural industry.

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The International Center for Creativity and Sustainable Development under the Auspices of UNESCO (Category 2) was approved at the 38th session of UNESCO General Assembly in November 2015. In 2017, the People's Government of Beijing Municipality signed the agreement with UNESCO. ICCSD becomes the world's first UNESCO Category 2 center with the theme of "creativity and sustainable development". With the support and guidance of UNESCO, the Center intends to build the world's high-level international platform that aims at creativity and sustainable development, and includes the functions of research, training, cooperation, communication, demonstration etc. The Center shall become a first-class think-tank gathering talents throughout the world, building a global renowned "laboratory of thoughts" with a focus on creativity and innovation. It shall promote cultural exchanges and cooperation, disseminate and support Chinese enterprises, technology and culture.
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