Mumbai, May 3 (UNI) Taking a major leap towards empowering India’s animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality (AVGC-XR) ecosystem, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in collaboration with FICCI and CII, has set up the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) – a National Centre of Excellence dedicated exclusively to the AVGC-XR sector.
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw formally flagged off this strategic collaboration on Saturday at the ongoing WAVES-2025 summit.
He stressed on India’s potential to become a global leader in the media and entertainment sector and said that IICT is on its way to becoming a premier institution in the field, just as IITs and IIMs have become benchmarks in technology and management education.
The Union Minister said that IICT will follow the path of IITs and IIMs in India to establish itself as a major world-class education and training centre for students aspiring to become professionals in the AVGC-XR sector. "To launch a completely new initiative in the world of film and entertainment. This (initiative) is a vision of the Prime Minister to make India a global leader in the media and entertainment sector,” Vaishnaw said.
He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the industry partners who have shown their willingness to collaborate.
He announced that leading global companies have agreed to partner with IICT to help in curriculum development, internships, scholarships, funding for startups and job placements. "I thank all the industry partners and their senior management for their willingness to partner with us for this initiative,” he said.
He said that they will help build this institution and sustain its long-term growth. I hope that IICT (AVGC-XR) will become a major educational infrastructure for the region, added Vaishnav.
Some of the companies that have extended a helping hand for long-term collaboration include Jio Star, Adobe, Google and YouTube, Meta, Wacom, Microsoft and NVIDIA.
The entrepreneurs present at the event included Richard Keris, (Vice President and General Manager Media and Entertainment, Nvidia), Sanjog Gupta (CEO, Sports and Live Experiences, Jio Star), Mala Sharma (Vice President and General Manager – Education, Adobe), Preeti Lobana (Country Head and Vice President, Google India) among others.
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