MUMBAI, May 4 -- The Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) will soon start its academic programme from a makeshift campus within the National Film and Development Corporation's (NFDC) Peddar Road premises. The temporary space has been allotted by the ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), till the permanent campus comes up on a 10-acre plot in Film City, Goregaon, in a few years. People in the know have told HT that the admission process will begin next month and classes from August. Sanjay Jaju, secretary, I&B ministry, said, "We have allotted five floors for the makeshift campus where NFDC stands." The first batch of courses on offer are, Animation, Visual effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR). This will be the first such institute for creative technology in India, intended to match in scale with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The idea of IICT was first announced by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on April 11. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with leading companies such as Meta, Apple, Jiostar, Microsoft, Star India, Adobe, YouTube and WACOM, was signed on Saturday, at the ongoing World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES 2025). The companies are expected to collaborate to help develop curricula; offer internships, scholarships, start-up funding and job placements. I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, called it a new step in the media and entertainment industry. "India can take global leadership in the world of media and entertainment as we have a billion plus talent and a civilization as old as 5,000 years and thousands of stories to tell. We have taken a step and now have to build on it," he said, while signing the MoU. He had said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allocated Rs.400 crore to set up the institute. IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar told HT, the temporary campus will be equipped with state-of-the-art Gaming Labs, Animation Labs, Edit and Sound Suites, Virtual Production setups, Immersive Studios, Preview Theatres, and smart classrooms. "We will pull the best talents from the industry to conduct the courses and offer all the facilities to make it a big success," said Deoskar. "In the beginning, the institute's intake capacity will be between 150 to 200, which should reach 1000 by the end of the year."...