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New Zealand boosts immersive gaming applications

Photo Credit: University of Canterbury

An international team of experts is being assembled by the University of Canterbury in its aim to craft the future of immersive gaming in New Zealand.

According to a recent report, this is made possible thanks to a Government funding boost of NZ$ 3.2 million in addition to University funding worth NZ$ 4.5 million.

Investing in immersive gaming

The Government is investing in the University’s Applied Immersive Gaming Initiative (AIGI), which intends to accelerate research and public use of immersive gaming applications.

This research uses the motivation that games provide to engage people in carrying out tasks that might otherwise be boring or difficult, such as learning at school, exercising or quitting smoking.

It includes virtual reality, augmented reality, and social and artistic aspects, which merge digital content with an otherwise physical world.

This continues the University’s record of developing world-class research and being part of the transition into nurturing and developing new innovations and business.

The project is part of the Tertiary Education Commission’s (TEC) Entrepreneurial Universities programme and will bring three international entrepreneurial academics to the Human Interface Technology Lab New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) at the University to break new ground on effective use of these novel technologies.

Benefits of immersive gaming

This type of immersive gaming is used in training and education, as well as for remote collaborative activities using this technology.

It has been proven to be useful in rescue situations and other health-and-safety scenarios.

Developing innovative immersive gaming applications has a role in improving personal and social educational and health-related outcomes.

Moreover, it is used in entertainment games. This industry is an increasingly important contributor to the New Zealand economy.

By supporting technical innovation research through this project, the skills shortage in New Zealand’s growing and lucrative gaming industry can be addressed.

Who are involved?

The academics will be working mainly with postgraduate students in the HIT Lab NZ, which is an international, multidisciplinary research lab that delivers postgraduate degrees from ground-breaking research at the University.

In addition, they will help with the University’s new School of Product Design, which offers a Bachelor’s degree majoring in Applied Immersive Game Design.

The academics will also work closely with the University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship.

The grant will support three PhD students and a postdoctoral researcher, as well as a game artist to help create content.

The effort will create a pathway to commercialise student and staff projects in applied games created as part of the initiative.

Research team background

The University reached globally to build a team of experts with strong research and entrepreneurial profiles in the fields of immersive technologies and applied gaming. The core of the team is made up of the wife and husband team from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the Netherlands, and a Professor from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the United States.

Current University staff members are the other members of the team.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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