Key Points

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off these strategic associations. He emphasized India's potential to become a global leader in media and entertainment, stating that IICT is on track to evolve into a premier institution in its field, much like how IITs and IIMs have become benchmarks in technology and management education.

The Union Minister informed that IICT will follow the same template as the IITs and IIMs in India to transform itself into a massive world-class education and training hub for students who aspire to be professionals in the AVGC-XR sector.

"We have started an initiative which is completely novel in the world of film and entertainment. This (initiative) follows the vision of our Prime Minister that India can take the global lead in the world in the media and entertainment sector," the Minister said.

According to an official release, the Minister thanked industry partners who have expressed their willingness to collaborate.

He announced that leading global companies have agreed to partner with IICT to provide support in curriculum development, internships, scholarships, startup funding, and job placements.

"I thank all the industry partners and their top management with whom I have spoken to, for expressing their willingness to partner with us for this initiative. They will help us build this institution and help us sustain a long-term growth. I hope the IICT grows into a large educational infrastucture for the (AVGC-XR) sector. We will be following the same template that we have created for the IITs and IIMs in our country, to make it into a world-class institution," the minister added.

Some companies who have extended their hands for a long-term collaborations are JioStar, Adobe, Google & YouTube, Meta, Wacom, Microsoft and NVIDIA.

During the session, representatives from IICT and leading industry partners came together to exchange Letters of Intent (LoIs), marking the launch of long-term collaborative efforts aimed at advancing the AVGC-XR ecosystem in India. The signings involved prominent global industry leaders including Jiostar, Adobe, Google, YouTube, and Meta.

These alliances are designed to boost education, R&D and innovation across animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, film, and extended reality, the release said. The goal is to replicate India's successful IT model within the creative and digital media space, developing a sustainable ecosystem for future growth.

The industry leaders who were present in this ceremony included Richard Kerris, (VP & GM, Media & Entertainment, Nvidia), Sanjog Gupta (CEO, Sports & Live Experiences, Jio Star), Mala Sharma (VP & GM - Education, Adobe), Preeti Lobana (Country Head & VP, Google India), Rajiv Malik (Senior Director, WACOM), Sandeep Bandibekar (Head of Sales, State Govt. & Healthcare), Sandeep Bandivdekar (Director, Mainstream Services Partners, Microsoft) and Sunil Abraham (Director, Public policy, Meta).

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L Murugan and Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Sanjay Jaju were among those present on the occasion.

- ANI