IIIT Hyderabad, Arka Media Works launch MediaTech Startup Accelerator

After running multiple successful accelerator programmes in the DeepTech and MedTech spaces and supporting over 380+ startups, The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at IIIT Hyderabad along with Arka Media Works, the new age production house which produced movies like Bahubali have launched the Media-Tech Accelerator.

The accelerator programmes are designed to discover, nurture and scale start-ups developing innovative solutions and AI applications in areas of Virtual Production, Web 3.0 (Blockchain, Metaverse), Media and Journalism.

"Movie production in India now leverages many of the latest technologies available globally. This accelerator will support Indian innovators and startups in creating new technology-driven solutions for the media and entertainment sector. The possibilities are immense. I'm looking forward to this exciting programme," said Shobu Yarlagadda, Co-Founder & CEO at Arka Media Works.

The programmes help startups to leverage cutting-edge research work at IIITH, provides domain mentoring, market access, seed fund and customer connections to help startups achieve their respective goals in the programme timespan. Cohorts will be led by key mentors including Prof Ramesh Loganathan (Professor & Head of CIE at IIIT Hyderabad) and Shobu Yarlagadda (Co-Founder & CEO of Arka Media Works) as Chief Mentors. This initiative is also supported by the DST, Government of India.

New media is a convergence of digital production, including AI-powered journalism, with emerging virtual worlds, such as the metaverse. AI-powered automatic editing, automatic dubbing, Lip Sync for movies, Computational Cinematography, Decentralized web, NFTs and News Analytics, Immersive and Interactive Mediums for Storytelling, and much more. It's no wonder that these businesses are seeing an increase in opportunities to grow, whether by entering new markets or expanding in existing ones.

"In recent years, research in AI and other emerging technologies have made great strides making many challenging MediaTech solutions possible. Using computer vision AI for editing, using language technologies for evaluating scripts, using speech technologies for realistic dubbing, blockchain powering metaverse solutions and more." "Several research areas of AI and emerging technologies have made great progress. Enabling these from India is the focus of this accelerator," says Ramesh Loganathan, Professor, Head of CIE at IIIT Hyderabad.