A rendering of the Yongjiang Software Industrial Park in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photot/cnnb.com.cn]

Ningbo's first metaverse industrial park whose design was recently approved by authorities is expected to break ground in June, local media reported.

As the city's first project related to the metaverse, the Yongjiang Software Industrial Park will be backed by 1.91 billion yuan ($276.81 million) in investments.

Authorities aim to develop the 85.8-mu (5.72 hectares) park into a national innovation hub for the metaverse industry. The facility is expected to have 20 metaverse-related companies and generate an annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan within five years.

The revenue of Ningbo's software industry grew by 19.5 percent year-on-year in 2022, 9.5 percentage points higher than the average of sub-provincial cities in the nation, official data show.

According to an outline regarding the development of the city's modern service industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, Ningbo will by 2025 become a national software hub and a domestic leader in the industrial internet, with the revenue generated by software and information services topping 300 billion yuan.