Pune: Wadia College of Engineering in collaboration with FireBirdVR has launched an advanced XR Lab – Centre of Excellence in Extended Reality – not just as a technological initiative, but as a movement aimed at empowering future creators and innovators in immersive technologies.
As a part of this initiative, students will now engage with FireBirdVR’s GuruVR Metaversity – an immersive skilling and collaboration platform designed to future-proof learners through real-world XR development.
“This isn’t just an XR lab – it’s a mission,” said Yogesh Surwase, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at FireBirdVR during the launch. “A mission to nurture and empower the creators of tomorrow.”
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The lab is part of FireBirdVR’s broader effort to establish a complete ecosystem for students aspiring to build careers in Extended Reality (XR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR). According to Surwase, the initiative focuses not only on skill-building but also on mindset transformation.
“At FireBirdVR, we’re not just developing job seekers – we’re cultivating job creators,” he said. “We tell students to go beyond asking what job they’ll get. Instead, we ask them: how many jobs can you create with your creativity?”
FireBirdVR: Preparing Students for Real-World Challenges,
To prepare students for real-world challenges, FireBirdVR mandates the completion of two Unity certifications – Unity Essentials and Junior Programmer – as a foundation before students start working on XR projects. From there, students go on to build games, explore diverse platforms, and even launch their own ventures.
Through the FireBirdVR Internship Program, students will:
- Gain hands-on experience in XR content creation
- Work on real industry projects under mentorship
- Build their portfolios using the Future-Proof Creator Platform
- Earn certification and potential placement support
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Akshay Rathod, CEO and Co-Founder, FireBirdVR stated, “This lab is a support system. It helps bring out the hidden talent in students and gives them the tools to shape the future of immersive tech. With the growing influence of XR across industries, initiatives like these are laying the groundwork for a new generation of digital innovators who are expected not just to adapt to the future – but to create it.”
Vaishali Maheshkar, Principal Technical Officer at C-DAC, Ramaswamy Ganesan, CFO, Modern Education Society, Dr M P Dale, Principal, Wadia College of Engineering, Dr Nuzhat Faiz Shaikh, Head of Department, Computer Engineering and others were present during the inaugural ceremony conducted at the college.
