Bhubaneswar, December 27: The Research & Entrepreneurship Park of IIT Bhubaneswar (IITBBS‐REP) is all set to host an open challenge programme (OCP) in AR‐VR as a part of its endeavour to help creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem in AR‐VR in the country, especially in Odisha by on boarding start‐ups both in physical and virtual mode.
The event will be held in association with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Start‐up Odisha, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The objective of this year’s Open Challenge Programme (OCP) is to select upto 20 best submissions led and executed by start‐ups, actively involved in research, development, and application activities related to AR‐VR. The project proposals with potential to entail a substantial advance in the state of the art technologies by delivering new services with potential to improve the solutions based on AR VR with an ability to reach the market in the short run, will be selected. The open call is divided into four participation tracks namely Augmented Reality platform for Medical Planning, Tourism, Cultural Heritage and Education and Skilling.
Speaking on this occasion, Prof R V Raja Kumar, Director said, “The AR‐VR center of Excellence (VARCoE) has been setup at the IITBBS‐REP in 2019 with the objective to help creating an ecosystem in AR‐VR in the country with growth focus in Odisha by giving impetus to R&D, technology incubation and entrepreneurship, human resource generation and innovative education.
“We also acknowledge the philanthropic support from Susmita Bagchi, Subroto Bagchi, with matching grants from Odisha Skill Development Authority and MSME, STPI provided for joining hands together with IIT Bhubaneswar in this endeavour,” he added.
The opening date for proposals to OCP would commence from December 27 and end on January 26, 2022. The screening of the proposals would start from February 1, 2022 and the final selection will be announced on March 1, 2022 after presentation by the shortlisted teams.
The selected start‐ups will have a hand on opportunity of on boarding in the VARCoE premises of IIT Bhubaneswar campus (In campus mode and virtual mode) with seed grants/investment support upto Rs 10 lakh. They will also have access to other funding/Investment from Government organisations upto the tune of Rs 25 lakh with an access to private investment for creation of a suitable ecosystem for organisational visibility centred towards new partnerships, business opportunities followed by mentoring support from VARCoE Team members.
Dr PK Sahu, the professor‐in‐charge of the center said, “The Hackathon we organised in the past was a big success. The present announcement is made to reach every nook and corner of our country, we sure to ignite the innovation passion of start‐ups, budding entrepreneurs, and innovators based out in India and thereby paving the path towards transforming India as a software product nation and we are sure of receiving best of proposals from across the nation in response to the call.”
