IIT-M’s first XR symposium affirms India’s leadership in immersive-tech
With XR, spanning augmented, virtual, mixed reality and haptics, poised to become the next transformative technology wave for emerging economies, the symposium brought together distinguished global experts and domestic stakeholders to accelerate India’s march toward Atmanirbhar Bharat in immersive ecosystems.
IIT-Madras’s first-ever International XR Symposium for the Global South was held on Friday
CHENNAI: Marking a significant leap in India’s emerging immersive-technology landscape, the Experiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC), IIT-Madras Institute of Eminence Centre, on Friday hosted the first-ever International XR Symposium for the Global South, placing India firmly on the global map of extended-reality innovation.
With XR, spanning augmented, virtual, mixed reality and haptics, poised to become the next transformative technology wave for emerging economies, the symposium brought together distinguished global experts and domestic stakeholders to accelerate India’s march toward Atmanirbhar Bharat in immersive ecosystems.
The country’s AR/VR market, valued at $4.84 billion in 2023, is projected to expand at an impressive CAGR of 38.3% through 2032, even as national adoption remains a modest 5%. Delivering the keynote address on ‘Future of Peace: Reimagining Education in the Global South’, chief guest Obijiofor Aginam, director, Unesco MGIEP, said, “The rapid evolution of generative AI and XR is reshaping learning. XR has the potential to be the next transformative technology. Unesco can play a pivotal role by helping countries integrate these skills into national curricula and teacher-training systems.”
M Manivannan, principal investigator, XTIC, said that the symposium addressed the pressing need for accessible XR applications in education, healthcare, skilling and public services. “XTIC’s proposal for an India XR Corridor is a national aggregator unifying academia, industry and government to push indigenous IP creation and large-scale deployment,” he added.
Sharing global perspectives, Steven LaValle, University of Oulu, said that experiential technologies would revolutionise education, work and healthcare, emphasising India’s potential in frugal XR innovation. Concurring with him was Professor Anna LaValle, who piped in: “Our NPTEL ‘Foundations of VR’ course is designed to democratise low-cost, open XR learning.”
The symposium outlined a roadmap for strengthening India’s XR ecosystem, boosting domestic manufacturing, building a skilled talent pipeline, advancing interdisciplinary research, and enabling context-driven, affordable XR solutions tailored to Indian realities.