Tshwane’s Interactive Digital Centre (IDC) has been launched to bring high-end interactive 3D digital media, virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to the city. The Centre is the result of a collaboration between the City of Tshwane, California-based software company EON Reality, and local VR company Naledi3d Factory.

The seventeen-year relationship between Naledi3d Factory and EON Reality – a specialist in VR-based knowledge transfer for business, education, and edutainment – resulted in Tshwane being a natural choice for EON Reality’s first IDC in continental Africa. With the global augmented and virtual reality markets expected to reach $150bn, content creation has to expand to keep up with local and global consumer’s needs. This new IDC will establish a local AR and VR ecosystem in Tshwane and its Entrepreneur School that will help to develop skilled local resources.

This IDC is a central part of Tshwane’s long term plan, Tshwane Vision 2055, to “break the cycle of generational poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment” as well as to enhance the local business and investment climate in South Africa’s capital city. It’s claimed that the content and applications created by the Tshwane IDC will help with vocational skills transfer and improve local STEM education.

Improving education

Interactive digital learning centre launched in Tshwane
Augmented reality and virtual reality applications are able to improve education and successfully address the issues of illiteracy and language barriers by showing rather than telling. The hands-on educational approach makes learning more engaging, thereby improving retention, and building experiences to be recalled rather than memorising facts.

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