Intl. Hub for Education in Mixed Reality to be the first step

Mysore/Mysuru: Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Excelsoft Technologies, Mysuru and UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) have announced an International Hub for Education in Mixed Reality (IHEM) as the first initiative of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Metaverse.

Metaverse is about creating a single, universal, connected, online and virtual world. To foster emotional resilience in this online world, we need to create social and emotional spaces. For human beings to effectively learn, adapt and flourish, they need to feel socially connected and emotionally safe.

As part of ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ initiatives of Karnataka Government at the Bengaluru Tech Summit in November this year, Minister of Electronics, Information Technology – Biotechnology, Science and Technology, Higher Education, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayan announced the creation of a CoE in Metaverse led by KDEM in collaboration with Mysuru-based Excelsoft Technologies.

Vision document released

Releasing a vision document on the decennial celebrations of UNESCO MGIEP, Director Dr. Anantha Duraiappah said, “Education must transform itself to be relevant for our future generations who live in the mixed reality. The Metaverse is here to stay and we cannot let learners disappear in it. Instead, we must embrace a mixed reality of the physical and virtual worlds. This digital education must be informed by the best science and evidence. IHEM has been designed to do just that.”

Sudhanva Dhananjaya, MD & CEO, Excelsoft Technologies, said: “Excelsoft is pleased to be a partner in the proposed Centre of Excellence on Metaverse. With more than two decades of experience in education technology and education delivery, I am confident that we can collaborate with our esteemed partners, KDEM and UNESCO MGIEP, and contribute to the success of this initiative.”

“Our experience of working with leading organisations across the globe, building immersive learning environments and our ongoing work in the area of Metaverse will assist in fulfilling its objectives. We are excited and keenly looking forward to working on this initiative,” he added.

Certified educational resources

The IHEM is conceived with the International Science of Learning Institute (ISLI) at its core, to provide world-class research and evidence-based, certified educational resources to learners. A digital design university, Teachers Training Academy, and a unique residential school for children with dyslexia are some of the other unique features of the IHEM.

The IHEM aims to enable an ecosystem that will build capacity, train teachers, spawn edtech startups benefited by research and make Karnataka the technology and research assisted enabler for NEP implementation in India. Cybersecurity and learner data will become increasingly important in such an environment.

Sanjeev Gupta, CEO, KDEM, said that Karnataka is a leading State in companies coming out with new products and services on future digital technologies like AR/VR/XR, Animation clubbed together in the metaverse. The new-age companies in the future, in almost all domains of the economy, are going to be leveraging these technologies and hence it is the right time and the right place to set up companies for metaverse in the State with an ecosystem currently available in Mysuru.

B.V. Naidu, Chairman, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, said: “Metaverse is a game changer in many aspects, as the computing, network and storage becomes more accessible and affordable, the applications which are dependent on augmented reality and mixed reality will start becoming platforms on which products and solutions will be developed.”