Policy Atlas
China
China is the Atlas's most vertically integrated policy stack: a single line runs from display materials and optics through terminals and standards to sector deployment and content licensing, restated across national and municipal plans from 2018 through 2026. The move from named metaverse programmes toward AI-plus and smart terminals suggests XR is being folded into a broader spatial-intelligence strategy rather than dropped — MIIT's 2026 programme still names metaverse development alongside embodied intelligence.
- Culture and tourism applications
- Optical-device manufacturing
National consumption plan promotes AI terminals and VR services
The plan promotes smart wearables and other AI terminals, applies AI and VR to services and destinations, and supports VR film and digital-content formats.
- ai spatial intelligence
- content creative industries
- industry infrastructure
Beijing issues Smart Glasses Industry Action Plan
Beijing's 2026–2030 plan covers devices, operating systems, models, chips, displays, and optics, including spatial computing, environmental sensing, and on-device agents.
- displays terminals
- ai spatial intelligence
- industry infrastructure
China approves national Fifteenth Five-Year Plan
The 2026–2030 national plan includes embodied intelligence, physical AI, and virtual–real collaborative training and evolution among its future-industry priorities.
- ai spatial intelligence
- industry infrastructure
MIIT names new display a 2026 emerging-industry pillar
MIIT's 2026 work program names new display an emerging pillar industry and calls for stronger innovation policy for embodied intelligence and metaverse development.
- displays terminals
- ai spatial intelligence
- metaverse virtual worlds
State Council adopts AI Plus initiative
The broader national AI policy calls for integration with the metaverse, brain-computer interfaces, and other technologies to create new product forms. It is not an XR-specific strategy.
- ai spatial intelligence
- displays terminals
China establishes a VR-film review and screening framework
The National Film Administration created a regime for VR, AR, and MR works, including script filing, completed-film review, screening permits, and venue and technical requirements.
- content creative industries
- standards governance
Shenzhen issues AI Terminal Industry Action Plan
Shenzhen classified smart glasses and AR/VR as AI terminals, pairing spatial perception and next-generation display with industrial, healthcare, and emergency applications.
- ai spatial intelligence
- displays terminals
- industry infrastructure
Five departments adopt metaverse industry action plan
The 2023–2025 plan targeted an industrial metaverse, immersive digital-life applications, enabling infrastructure, standards, and trusted governance. Its stated program period ended in 2025.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- industry infrastructure
- standards governance
China names VR and new display as electronics growth engines
The 2023–2024 electronics plan supported VR terminals and applications alongside AMOLED, Micro-LED, 3D, and laser displays, plus investment in display materials and equipment.
- xr immersive tech
- displays terminals
- industry infrastructure
Five ministries adopt VR industry action plan
The 2022–2026 plan set goals for core XR technology, terminals, industrial capacity, standards, and scaled applications. It expressly includes augmented and mixed reality within virtual reality.
- xr immersive tech
- displays terminals
- industry infrastructure
Shanghai issues 2022–2025 Metaverse Action Plan
Shanghai made XR terminals and applications a municipal industry priority, covering AR, VR, MR, holographic display, and haptics, with more than 50 demonstration applications as a target.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- xr immersive tech
- industry infrastructure
China issues virtual-reality industry guidance
MIIT organized national work around core VR technology, hardware and software, sector adoption, public-service platforms, standards, and security. The guidance defines VR broadly to include AR and MR.
- xr immersive tech
- industry infrastructure
United States
US XR policy is fragmented but consequential: agency rules and defense procurement advance capability without a single national XR strategy, and the bill that would create a federal coordinating role — S.1106 — remains unpassed. Its binding channels are spectrum authorisation, children's privacy, and the immersive-technology provisions of the CHIPS and Science Act. Defense acquisition drives capability without legislating it, and medical-device oversight so far rests on nonbinding advisory findings.
- Military XR
- Spectrum authorisation for XR
FCC geofenced variable-power 6 GHz rules take effect
The FCC permits unlicensed geofenced variable-power devices in two 6 GHz sub-bands, enabling higher-power indoor and outdoor links while exclusion zones protect incumbent services.
- xr immersive tech
- industry infrastructure
Immersive Technology Workforce Act introduced
S.2855 proposed Labor Department grants for community colleges and technical education centers to build immersive-technology training and career pathways.
- skills workforce
- industry infrastructure
Army budget frames IVAS transition to SBMC
The FY2026 request says IVAS is transitioning to Soldier Borne Mission Command, a modular fused digital-awareness system, and requests $85.5 million for IVAS development and prototypes.
- defense procurement
- ai spatial intelligence
- displays terminals
Updated COPPA Rule takes effect
The FTC rule strengthens limits on collecting, retaining, and disclosing children's data and adds biometric identifiers to personal information. It applies to covered child-directed services, including immersive services.
- privacy safety
- standards governance
Immersive Technology Leadership Act introduced
S.1106 proposed a federal immersive-technology advisor and advisory panel covering standards, investment, cybersecurity, privacy, competitiveness, and national security.
- industry infrastructure
- standards governance
- privacy safety
FCC authorizes very-low-power 6 GHz devices
FCC 23-86 authorized very-low-power unlicensed devices in two 6 GHz sub-bands for short-range, high-throughput uses expressly including augmented and virtual reality.
- xr immersive tech
- industry infrastructure
Army orders development of IVAS 1.2
The Army awarded Microsoft an IVAS 1.2 development task order targeting reliability, power demand, comfort, and a lower-profile display in response to soldier testing.
- defense procurement
- displays terminals
CHIPS and Science Act recognizes immersive technology
Public Law 117-167 names advanced communications and immersive technology as a key focus area and authorizes NIST research on AI systems that enable IoT networks and immersive technology.
- industry infrastructure
- ai spatial intelligence
FDA reviews AR and VR medical-device risks
FDA's Patient Engagement Advisory Committee considered benefits, risks, uncertainty, and patient perspectives specific to augmented- and virtual-reality medical devices.
- xr immersive tech
- privacy safety
Army awards IVAS production agreement
The Army awarded Microsoft a fixed-price production agreement for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, moving the mixed-reality program from prototyping toward production and rapid fielding.
- defense procurement
- xr immersive tech
Army designates IVAS for rapid prototyping
The Army designated the Integrated Visual Augmentation System a Middle Tier of Acquisition rapid-prototyping program, creating an accelerated path for the mixed-reality system before production.
- defense procurement
- xr immersive tech
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is the Atlas's thinnest formal XR-policy record: four entries, two of them instruments, none binding, and no dedicated XR strategy. What exists is procurement-facing. The Digital Government Authority's adoption guideline is the only Saudi document that names virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in scope, and it governs how public bodies and their suppliers adopt emerging technology rather than how the sector develops; the gaming and esports strategy sits adjacent to XR rather than covering it. On this record Saudi Arabia enters the Atlas as a buyer and a venue rather than a rule-maker.
No sub-sectors recorded for this region.
KACST reports augmented-reality and gaming research program
KACST reported work through its Augmented Reality and e-Games Technologies Institute under the Kingdom's future-economies research priority. This was a research milestone rather than nationwide policy.
- xr immersive tech
- skills workforce
Ministry of Culture launches Saudi Heritage Metaverse
The Ministry launched a web-based cultural metaverse for mobile devices, VR headsets, and desktops. This was an implementation milestone rather than a nationwide XR policy.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- content creative industries
Saudi government issues emerging-technology adoption guideline
The Digital Government Authority set a staged adoption process for public entities and suppliers. Its immersive-technology scope explicitly includes virtual, augmented, and mixed reality.
- xr immersive tech
- standards governance
Saudi Arabia launches gaming and esports strategy
The 2030 strategy spans technology, hardware, infrastructure, regulation, talent, and financing across the games value chain. It is adjacent to XR rather than a dedicated XR strategy.
- content creative industries
- industry infrastructure
European Union
The EU is the governance and rights-setting pole of the Atlas. Its influence comes less from device procurement than from shaping human-centered virtual worlds through privacy, consumer protection, interoperability, and accessibility expectations.
- Policy development
- Regulatory compliance
Commission launches Virtual Worlds Observatory outputs
The Commission and JRC published Observatory reports and an explorer mapping virtual-world activity, dependencies, applications, investment, and skills for policy use.
- industry infrastructure
- ai spatial intelligence
- standards governance
European Partnership for Virtual Worlds signed
The Commission and an 18-member association signed a research partnership. The Commission plans up to €200 million and members at least €200 million through 2030.
- industry infrastructure
- metaverse virtual worlds
- ai spatial intelligence
Commission launches Virtual Worlds Toolbox
The Commission launched a public resource explaining virtual worlds, EU rights, safety, cybersecurity, and disinformation, implementing recommendations from its Citizens' Panel.
- privacy safety
- skills workforce
- metaverse virtual worlds
European Parliament adopts virtual-worlds resolution
Parliament's nonbinding resolution addresses virtual-world opportunities, risks, single-market rules, consumer and child protection, competition, interoperability, and accessibility.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- standards governance
- privacy safety
European Commission adopts Web 4.0 and virtual-worlds strategy
The strategy sets four pillars for human-centered virtual worlds: skills, an industrial ecosystem, virtual public services, and open global governance. It is a policy framework rather than binding legislation.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- standards governance
- skills workforce
Citizens' Panel publishes virtual-world recommendations
An EU citizens' panel published 23 recommendations for fair, safe, and human-centered virtual worlds. The recommendations informed the Commission's later Web 4.0 initiative.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- standards governance
- privacy safety
EU VR/AR Industrial Coalition publishes roadmap
The Commission-backed coalition published a roadmap endorsed by more than 40 European organizations to encourage investment, inform policy, and reduce fragmentation in the EU's VR and AR ecosystem.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- industry infrastructure
General Data Protection Regulation becomes applicable
The GDPR became applicable across the EU, governing personal-data processing by covered services, including virtual-world providers and connected-device operators.
- privacy safety
- standards governance
Japan
Japan's approach is soft-law and creative-industry led: nonbinding principles, intellectual-property rules, and public-private research frame avatars and virtual economies. Its distinctive leverage is the connection between communication-oriented virtual spaces, the media industries, standards, and governance — a link made explicit by export targets that treat content as core industrial policy.
- Metaverse ecosystems
- Avatar and virtual-space policy
- Anime, comics, and games economy
MIC publishes Principles of the Metaverse 2.0
MIC expanded its policy scope from communication-oriented VR metaverses to AR and MR, with nonbinding principles for openness, inclusion, transparency, privacy, security, intellectual property, and physical safety.
- xr immersive tech
- standards governance
- privacy safety
METI adopts five-year entertainment and creative strategy
METI's action plan targets ¥20 trillion in overseas content sales by 2033 and sets 100 actions across IP, talent, digital production, global market access, and anti-piracy.
- content creative industries
- skills workforce
- industry infrastructure
Japan adopts the New Cool Japan Strategy
The strategy classed Cool Japan sectors as core industries, targeted at least ¥50 trillion in overseas expansion by 2033, and called for digital production and VR- and metaverse-enabled experiences.
- content creative industries
- xr immersive tech
- industry infrastructure
Digital-space product imitation amendment takes effect
Japan's amended Unfair Competition Prevention Act added certain digital-space imitations of another party's product shape to acts for which injunctions and other remedies may be available.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- standards governance
MIC study group reports on the Web3-era metaverse
The report organized policy issues around avatars, interoperability, data, interfaces, and social effects, and recommended international coordination, standards, provider guidance, and continued monitoring.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- standards governance
- privacy safety
Japan opens SIP Phase 3 virtual-economy R&D call
The Cabinet Office and NEDO opened research on “interverse” links between cyber and physical space, covering devices, smart-city and healthcare uses, standards, safety, and rules.
- xr immersive tech
- industry infrastructure
- standards governance
METI publishes virtual-space policy study
The METI-commissioned study mapped virtual-space business models, legal risks, industry constraints, and possible government roles while defining VR, AR, and MR.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- standards governance
South Korea
South Korea is the Atlas's only case where metaverse promotion matured into dedicated law: the 2024 Virtual Convergence Industry Promotion Act is the sole XR-specific statute in the record set, arriving after four years of strategy and ethics work. The 2026 move of support into a ₩30 billion AI-integration fund, 60 percent reserved for smaller companies, reads as migration rather than abandonment — but at roughly a quarter of the expired ₩119.72 billion 2024 programme it is a narrower instrument, and it is still at manager-selection stage.
- Dedicated XR statute
- Metaverse ethics framework
Korea shifts virtual-convergence funding toward AI
MSIT opened manager selection for a ₩30 billion fund. At least 60% is reserved for SMEs pursuing AI integration, overseas expansion, or M&A, with public and private capital supplying ₩18 billion and at least ₩12 billion.
- ai spatial intelligence
- industry infrastructure
Virtual Convergence Industry Promotion Act takes effect
Korea's dedicated metaverse law establishes industry planning, surveys, talent and regional support, impact assessment, self-regulation, and provisional regulatory guidance.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- standards governance
- industry infrastructure
Korea allocates ₩119.72 billion to metaverse industry support
The 2024 programme funded platforms, workforce, company support, R&D, and adoption. It included ₩33 billion for flagship projects and AI–metaverse models, with 650 trainees targeted.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- ai spatial intelligence
- skills workforce
Korea publishes Ethical Principles for the Metaverse
The nonbinding framework sets values for authentic self, safe experience, and sustainable prosperity, with principles on privacy, fairness, inclusion, creator rights, safety, and responsibility.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- privacy safety
- standards governance
Korea adopts pan-government metaverse strategy
Under Digital New Deal 2.0, Korea targeted metaverse platforms, talent, specialized companies, regional infrastructure, ethical safeguards, and access.
- metaverse virtual worlds
- industry infrastructure
- skills workforce
Korea announces Immersive Economy Development Strategy
The government set an XR strategy spanning six industries, device and component research, spatial-data infrastructure, regulatory reform, workforce training, and company support.
- xr immersive tech
- industry infrastructure
- skills workforce
South Asia
The Atlas's South Asia record is an India-only line, and reads as creative-industry capability building: no other South Asian government yet appears in the record set. IICT and WAVES connect skills, research, intellectual property, startups, and market access. What distinguishes this from the 2022 task-force recommendations is that it was funded and incorporated — ₹391.15 crore of one-time support and a Cabinet-approved centre — rather than left as a proposed national mission.
- Public capability building through IICT
- Creative-industry coordination through WAVES
- AVGC-XR skills, research, and startup development
India launches the first WAVES summit
The Prime Minister opened a four-day government market-development platform spanning film, gaming, animation, AI, and AVGC-XR to connect creators, startups, investors, and policymakers.
- content creative industries
- ai spatial intelligence
- industry infrastructure
India incorporates IICT with ₹391.15 crore support
The AVGC-XR centre was named IICT and incorporated as a Section 8 company with ₹391.15 crore in one-time support; ownership is 48% government and 26% each for FICCI and CII.
- content creative industries
- skills workforce
- industry infrastructure
India approves national AVGC-XR centre of excellence
The Union Cabinet approved a Mumbai centre as a Section 8 company with government, FICCI, and CII partners, covering specialist training, R&D, Indian IP, and startup incubation.
- content creative industries
- skills workforce
- industry infrastructure
AVGC-XR Task Force proposes national mission
The task force recommended a funded national mission, a Create in India campaign, national and regional centres of excellence, courses, accelerators, R&D and IP incentives, and startup support.
- content creative industries
- skills workforce
- industry infrastructure