AMPD Ventures Inc said its subsidiary Departure Lounge Inc has entered into a lease and education collaboration agreement with the Centre for Digital Media (CDM), as the first phase of plans to develop a globally attractive Metaverse Innovation Centre.
As part of the deal, Departure Lounge will house its range of metaverse-related technology solutions, including its recently announced state-of-the-art Metastage volumetric capture stage, on campus at the CDM.
The facility is expected to be used as a catalyst for a range of work-integrated learning and research opportunities including students, faculty, and the community of digital content creators across the province.
“Our founding team has enjoyed working with CDM students, alumni, and faculty on many collaborative projects over the years, and I am pleased that we have been able to establish our Departure Lounge Vancouver HQ at the heart of such a thriving digital media community,” James Hursthouse, CEO at Departure Lounge said in a statement.
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“Departure Lounge and our partners will take an active role in promoting industry academic partnerships and helping to develop the next generation of digital creative talent here in BC as we embrace the opportunity represented by the metaverse and new frontiers in immersive content development," he added.
The CDM will collaborate with Departure Lounge and other industry and community-based partners to develop metaverse-related micro-credentials and other programs to help address skilled labor shortages and ensure resources are made available to a broad cross-section of the community.
Departure Lounge also said it is seeking expressions of interest from other potential collaborators.
“We are thrilled that Departure Lounge has chosen to locate the new Metastage at the CDM,” said Dr Ted Gervan, managing director of Academic and Business Operations at the CDM. “For the last 15 years, we have emphasized the importance of experiential learning through industry project courses, as well as the importance of inclusion and diversity in digital media production. Departure Lounge’s Metastage initiative will help grow these opportunities for CDM’s teaching and learning community.”
The metaverse economy could be worth $13 billion by 2030, according to a Citi report.
A Metaverse Innovation Centre as proposed by Departure Lounge would launch a new track for digital media excellence and collaboration with local companies and community-based organizations through a series of training initiatives and collaborative projects focused on the metaverse opportunity, both in real life (IRL) and in the metaverse, AMPD Ventures noted.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com