Odisha government today signed an MoU with Software Technology Park of India (STPI), Ms Susmita Bagchi, a noted Odia Writer and Philanthropist and IIT Bhubaneswar to establish an incubator named, “Centre of Excellence for Virtual & Augmented Reality” (VARCoE) at the campus of IIT, Bhubaneswar. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stated that the Centre will be one of its kind in the country being set up with a unique collaborative partnership between state governmnet, centre, a philanthropist and an IIT.

He added that the incubator on Virtual Augmented Reality at IIT, Bhubaneswar will be a landmark initiative for promoting research, technology incubation and product development in the country. The Centre will cater to the startups and new generation entrepreneurs working in the area of Virtual Augmented Reality for immersive visualisation and allied areas.

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The centre will undertake state-of-the-art research, develop testing facility/laboratories for advanced algorithms, applications and methods in aid of Virtual and Augmented Reality for Immersive Visualization and allied areas. It will also offer highly focused courses on AR / VR to the students. It will help in developing application platforms for specific skill development programs based on the industry need and relevance. Ms Susmita Bagchi has donated Rs. 2.5 crore for the incubator.

Minister, MSME, W&CD & SSEPD Prafulla Samal iterated that the state government was committed to achieve the vision of supporting 1000- Startups by 2020. Additional Chief Secretary L.N. Gupta informed that since the launch of Startup Odisha Portal on 1 May, 2017 , 162 Startups have been registered under the Startup Odisha Initiative and 20 of them are getting benefits.

Ms Susmita Bagchi, hoped that the Centre of Excellence on Virtual Augmented Reality (VORCoE) will be one of its kind in the country to promote research and technology development for the benefit of industry and the society. Prof. R.V. Rajakumar, Director, IIT, Bhubaneswar while speaking on the occasion, stated that the VARCoE will be a state-of-the-art incubator.

It will leverage a high performance computing facilities available at. IIT, Bhubaneswar and faculty resources . Omkar Rai, Director, General, STPI, described it as a landmark initiative. He added that STPI may encourage the Incubatees and Startups graduating from the IIT Bhubaneswar to join STPI.