New Delhi: FICCI has announced that it has shortlisted 100 Indian developers for its XR Open-Source (XROS) fellowship program. Supported by Meta, the program was launched in November 2022 to enable Indian developers to work on open-source projects for the metaverse.

The National e-Governance Division, an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeiTY), Government of India, is a technical partner and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India is the knowledge partner to the program, said FICCI in a statement on Wednesday.

The program brings together 100 Indian developers for contributions to 57 open-source projects listed by our 24 partner organizations with the commitment in accelerating India’s contribution in building the XR ecosystem creating India-specific solutions.

The program received more than 10,000 registrations and over 2,800 applications. Selected through a comprehensive evaluation process, over 65 per cent of the developers are from smaller cities and towns across India. Also, close to 20 per cent of the selected fellows are women developers.

A virtual kick-off session was held on April 21, 2023, to welcome and congratulate all developers along with insightful sessions by experts on the open-source and XR ecosystem in India. Shortlisted developers will get three months of practical experience working on live industry projects, networking opportunities along with a stipend of Rs 4 lakh.

The XROS program 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. For more details, visit https://xrosfellowship.ficci.in. /BI/