CHINA’S first government-endorsed virtual reality industry alliance was founded yesterday in Beijing, which is expected to establish industry standards and a strong VR ecosystem in the country.

The Industry of Virtual Reality Alliance, or IVRA, which is supported by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, aims to enhance the development of the VR ecosystem in China by promoting innovation in technology, formulating industry standards, bridging hardware, software, content, platforms and industrial application.

More than 170 enterprises and institutions have joined IVRA, such as companies including HTC, Alibaba, Huawei, JD.com, NetEase, LeEco, iQiYi, Samsung, Nokia, AMD, NVIDIA and ARM; research centers and education institutions like Peking University, Zhejiang University, Columbia University, Stanford University and the University of Washington.

Industrial parks and investment institutions such as China Nanchang VR Industrial Base, Shanghai Jinqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone and VR Venture also joined IVRA.

HTC is committed to promoting VR technology innovation in China, Cher Wang, chairwoman and CEO of HTC, said in a statement. It will also assist MIIT to formulate industry standards.

China has great market potential for VR device makers, smartphone vendors and content providers, with the market value expected to be 55 billion yuan (US$8.3 billion) by 2020, or a 36-fold jump from 2014, according to iResearch, a Shanghai-based research firm.

VR devices including HTC’s Vive and Sony PlayStation VR are already available in China.