The government has established strategic partnerships with several global technology companies to support the National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality - the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan said the collaborations aim to support the IICT through curriculum development, skill-development programmes, internships, research-and-development support, startup incubation, scholarships and industry mentorship, thereby strengthening the AVGC-XR ecosystem in the country.

The government has established strategic partnerships with several global technology companies to support the National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) - the IICT, he said.

Murugan said the WAVES Bazaar is the flagship global B2B marketplace and engagement platform of the government, conceived to promote India's Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector across films, animation, VFX, gaming, AVGC-XR, immersive media, music and digital content.

He said envisioned as a "Create in India, Create for the World" initiative, the WAVES Bazaar enables structured business discovery, market access, investment facilitation and international collaboration for Indian creators, studios, startups and institutions.