Karnataka has set up Asia’s biggest Center of Excellence (CoE) for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) at Whitefield in Bengaluru at a cost of ₹40 crore. The CoE was inaugurated on February 3.
Minister for Electronics, IT, BT and Higher Education C.N. Ashwath Narayan said: “India commands around 10% of the global AVGC market and has the potential to reach 20-25% by 2027. Karnataka has been driving the sector in the country. This CoE brings digital excellence to creative industries.’
The CoE also features a Finishing School which offers unique courses on virtual reality, digital compression, photogrammetry, gamification of education, real-time virtual production, and other emerging technologies, the Minister said.
“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’. Several small CoEs will also be set up across the State particularly on campuses of universities,” he added.
According to Mr. Narayan, at present only 35% of students are getting quality education. To fill this shortfall, the National Education Policy envisages making ‘storytelling’ the basis of education while blended learning will be supportive of this. By relying on AVGC, learning can be made more curious and interesting.