Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Excelsoft Technologies, Mysuru and UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) have announced the setting up of International Hub for Education in Mixed Reality (IHEM) as the first initiative of the Centre of Excellence 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,” said a press release here.
As part of ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ initiatives of Karnataka government at the Bengaluru Tech Summit in November this year, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, Minister for IT/BT and Higher Education, had announced the creation of a Center of Excellence (CoE) in Metaverse led by KDEM in collaboration with Excelsoft Technologies in Mysuru.
Releasing a vision document on the decennial celebrations of UNESCO MGIEP in New Delhi on Monday , its Director 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.”
The release said 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 release added.
The IHEM aims to enable an ecosystem that will build capacity, train teachers, spawn edtech start-ups 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, according to the release.
Sanjeev Gupta, CEO, KDEM, in the release, said 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.
“This will not only enhance the relationship of industry and academia but also foster talent and innovation for global positioning of the State,” he argued.
Sudhanva Dhananjaya, MD and CEO, Excelsoft Technologies said Excelsoft is pleased to be a partner in the Centre of Excellence on Metaverse. “With more than two decades of experience in education technology and education delivery, we can collaborate with our partners and contribute to the success of this initiative,” he said.
