Building on its commitment to accelerate India’s contribution in developing XR technologies, Meta is supporting Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) with $1 million for the XR Open Source (XROS) fellowship program. Run by FICCI, XROS will support 100 Indian developers working on XR (extended reality) technologies by providing them with fellowships which includes stipend and mentoring. The National e-Governance Division, an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), will be the technical partner to the program.
The program will support developers to make contributions to open source projects related to the XR technology and will further lay the foundation for India specific solutions that are affordable, appropriate and localized to Indic languages. The XROS program is part of Meta’s global XR Programs and Research Fund under which the company announced a $2 million fund for the XR Startup program with MeitYStartup Hub earlier this year.
XROS further aims to provide developers with the resources they need to create digital public goods and generate potential employment opportunities in the field of XR technologies. Sharing his views on the program, Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs, Meta said, “With their talent, insight and effort, we hope to ensure the next generation of internet technologies are built in an open, collaborative and accessible way.”