Thomas Ao
People in Macau have a natural appetite for new and trendy technology but lack a mindset supportive of entrepreneurship and have a culture rooted in traditional values, says Thomas Ao, president and founder of the Metaverse Industry Association Macau (MIAM).
Ao is also a founding partner of Mindfulness Capital, a company specializing in blockchain, the metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Web 3.0. In an interview with the Times, he talked about the association’s prospects and challenges, and how the metaverse could grow roots and expand locally as it already does in other places in the world.
“For the past 20 years, young kids in Macau have been following the latest videogames and electronics — I am pretty sure that when the iPhone 14 comes out, a lot of people will stay up overnight to buy it. So I think the ingredients are here, but when it comes to whether a company makes use of their cashflow to invest in an [unknown] space, and when even the word ‘metaverse’ is not that well defined, there is a challenge here,” Ao told the Times in an interview on the sidelines of the opening of a metaverse NFT art exhibition titled “Dream Space: New Wave in the Metaverse NFT Art Exhibition,” located at The Parisian Macao.
But Ao feels that the natural local interest in trendy new things might clash with the traditional local culture meaning potential slow progress in this field.
“I don’t think there is [a local] culture built into [Metaverse-related jobs]. I think kids here in their 20s think about buying an apartment, while in Europe, people in their 30s may not even consider that as an option. The fact that parents here are not so supportive of their kids being entrepreneurs or doing something that’s disruptive or that is non-standard is potentially a big challenge [for the industry here],” Ao told the Times.
“Also, when it comes to Chinese culture, they tend to reinforce that a ‘proper’ job can provide more safety and guarantees and are less inclined to do new things that disrupt the whole industry. But I think [Macau] is catching up from an entrepreneur’s perspective and is learning from Silicon Valley, Hong Kong and other places. At the government level, we have some initiatives in conferencing online, especially since Covid disrupted the whole idea of physical meetings. I think the government would be interested in doing something in this segment,” he remarked.
Ao thinks the sectors in which the metaverse could achieve more, or have more relevance locally, include the consumer and fashion sectors, conferences and IT services. He explained that, for example, brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Nike already have a well-established presence in the metaverse which, in some cases, has already generated high revenue.
“Gucci [was one of the first] to enter the metaverse and Nike has already sold over 180 million [USD] worth of NFTs, so I think when it comes to fashion and trendy items and playful stuff, Macau naturally has the eye for it,” he said.
Ao thinks it is not necessarily a bad thing that Macau might be lagging behind other places because it might arise from Macau historically being a very developed place.
“It doesn’t mean it is bad [that Macau is lagging a bit behind in the metaverse and NFTs]. If, for instance, we look at Vietnam, which has a less developed economy, they are more familiar with NFTs and other new technologies. They basically skipped the PC (personal computer) era and jumped straight into the mobile [era]. It [also] has to do with the existing internet infrastructure. If the infrastructure is too good, people are satisfied with it,” the MIAM president noted, adding, “Macau has been quite close with trendy IT stuff so I think that if Macau wants to catch up, the gap is not really that big.”
