Bengaluru: The AVGC Centre of Excellence (The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics CoE), termed as pioneering high technology digital media hub, funded by the Department of Electronics, IT & BT as an initiative of ‘Innovate Karnataka’, was launched here on Thursday.

Through this, the Karnataka Government which owns the credit of the first State in India to introduce an AVGC policy way back in 2012, has also become the country’s first to set up such a Centre of Excellence which is also coveted to be the biggest in Asia.

Launching the Centre, Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayan, Minister for Electronics, IT, BT and Higher Education said, “This CoE brings digital excellence to creative industries. India now commands around 10 percent of the global AVGC market and has the potential to reach 20-25 percent by 2027. The State of Karnataka has been driving the AVGC sector in the country. Our Government is proud of this CoE and this Centre will take us to greater prominence in the sector.”

The Centre also has a Finishing School which offers unique courses based on emerging technology such as virtual reality, digital compression, photogrammetry, gamification of education, real-time virtual production, and other emerging technologies, he told.

“The State will come out with the new AVGC policy within one year and required land will be provided within a year to set up dedicated ‘Digital Media Entertainment Area’. More Small CoEs will be set up across the State particularly on campuses of Universities and collaborations will be made with more number of fine arts institutions,” the Minister pointed out.

At present only 35 percent of students are getting quality education in our system and to fill this shortfall the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) aspires to make ‘storytelling’ the basis of education. Blended learning will also be supportive of this. By relying on AVGC, learning can be made more curious to achieve the target of providing quality education to all the students”, he opined.

Karnataka accounts for a 20 percent share of the Indian Entertainment & AVGC industry. A total of over 300 animation, VFX & gaming studios operate in Karnataka employing over 15,000-plus professionals. With the launch of this CoE, the AVGC ecosystem will be further benefited, said Dr. E. V. Ramana Reddy, ACS, Department of Electronics, IT/BT and S&T.

The objective of the CoE is to syndicate and make available the best facilities and technologies to start-ups, AVGC studios, and professionals who find it difficult to fund or access such a high-technology stack individually, he opined.

“This co-working space can help studios to focus more on the creation and developing the content. The GoK has provided industry a great lever by supporting this unique project with a grant and such a facility does not exist in any country as a shared resource,” said Biren Ghose, Past President, ABAI (formerly called Association of Bangalore Animation Industry) & Country Head, Technicolor India.