eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC), an IIT Madras Institute of Eminence Centre in Virtual Reality and related fields, hosted the first-ever International XR Symposium for the Global South

on Friday.

The symposium positions India at the forefront of XR (extended reality) technologies while accelerating the Nation’s drive toward Atmanirbhar Bharat in immersive systems.

Going forward, XTIC aims to champion frugal XR innovation, support Indian-made XR hardware and software, expand sector-wide adoption and nurture a large XR talent pool for public and social impact.

India’s AR/VR market, valued at USD 4.84 billion in 2023, is projected to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of about 38.3 per cent through 2032. Yet, National adoption remains limited at roughly 5 per cent.

The XTIC-organised International XR Symposium held on the campus brought together global experts and domestic stakeholders to drive this transformation

As India rides a fast-rising AI wave, experts at the symposium underscored that the next technological surge will be driven by XR—combining AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and haptics (Touch-based feedback tech) to transform education, healthcare, training and public services across emerging economies.

Delivering an address on ‘The Future of Peace: Reimagining Education in the Global South’, Dr. Obijiofor Aginam, Director, UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (UNESCO MGIEP), said, “We are operating within the Education sector of UNESCO, which works in tandem science and culture together. In terms of such technologies that are shaping hundreds of millions of lives in India and the countries of the Global South, the landscape is fast evolving. Generative AI is changing the way we conduct research and shaping the way we learn, both indoors and outdoors. XR has potential to be the next transformative technology. How we process information and how we create content are fundamentally changing.”

He said “UNESCO can play a pivotal role in driving this transformation by helping countries integrate these skills into their national curriculum and teacher training systems. We can provide the UNESCO Global Standards, open educational resources and policy-making guidance, ensuring that even low-resource Nations have access to high-quality digital, and sustainability education. Through research, international cooperation and pilot innovation programs, we can partner with research institutes like XTIC at IIT Madras to test new models of future-focused education.”

Prof. M. Manivannan, Principal Investigator, XTIC, IIT Madras, said, “This symposium will address the rising need for affordable XR applications in education, healthcare, skilling and public services, enabling context-driven XR tools for the developing world.”

Spearheaded by XTIC, a proposed ‘India XR Corridor’ will unify academia, industry and government, driving indigenous IP creation, skill development and deployment at scale. Acting as a national aggregator, IIT Madras XTIC aims to connect talent, startups, researchers and government resources to accelerate the country’s XR adoption and indigenisation.

Further, highlighting the impact of XR (extended reality) technologies, Dr. Steven LaValle, Professor, University of Oulu, Finland, said, “Virtual reality and related experiential technologies promise to reshape our societies by revolutionising education, work, lifestyles and health care. Through frugal innovation and the principles of perception engineering, we have found ways to make this technology widely available and accessible to the masses. We are pioneering a new approach through the growth of open software and high-quality experiences built from standard smartphones and lens cases. The XR Symposium gathers industry leaders, researchers and developers to chart out the exciting future of these innovations.”

Dr. Anna LaValle, Professor, University of Oulu, Finland, said “Our new NPTEL course on Foundations of VR has deliberately focused on the fundamental principles needed to make frugal innovations on low-cost, open, cardboard-and-smartphone-based devices, resulting in ‘frugal VR,’ which we hope will inspire many millions of people around the world.”

The XR symposium will help build a self-reliant XR ecosystem. Such platforms help create talent pipelines, stimulate interdisciplinary research and enable affordable XR solutions tailored to domestic needs. While the global XR market is projected to surpass USD 250 billion by 2030, India currently contributes less than 1 per cent despite having the world’s second-largest developer base and rapidly expanding sectors in education, defence, healthcare and space.

An IIT-Madras release said the major takeaways from the event include: Prioritising frugal innovation to serve emerging economies; Strengthening the CAVE consortium by linking academia, startups, industry and government;

Establishing a robust ecosystem for skill development, standardisation and XR content creation; Accelerating XR adoption in education, healthcare, training, space, ocean sciences and public services; Enhancing India’s visibility to attract investment, international collaborations and policy support and developing a roadmap for affordable, locally manufactured XR hardware and context-aware software for Indian realities.