Vision and mission

Our vision and mission at the Computational Media Innovation Centre (CMIC) is to be a 'global hub for the digital media frontier, where we innovate a computational media ecosystem, lead immersive, interactive, intelligent (3i) media technologies, and deliver value to human life'.

Background

New Zealand has a strong track record in film postproduction with sustainable global leadership. At the time of writing, five of the top ten highest grossing films (over $9 billion US dollars) were made in Wellington, New Zealand.

The 'behind the scenes' technologies require scientific innovation in computer graphics, computer vision, computational and simulation models, information and communication technologies (ICT), and digital media technologies to adapt creative media productions.

In collaboration with Weta Digital, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington initiated a Computer Graphics programme in 2012. This globally competitive teaching and research programmes has an excellent balance of the technical and creative aspects of media technology. We have built a unique pipeline that takes students from the academic programme into New Zealand's film industry.

In order to strengthen and expand New Zealand’s strong film sector research and creative capability, CMIC was established in 2018 with support from the Tertiary Education Commission's Entrepreneurial Universities Initiative programme and a large strategic investment by the University.

Our aim is to develop a next generation research and entrepreneur framework that:

• represents the convergence of computational media and emerging interactive media technologies
• advances state-of-the-art immersive, interactive, intelligent (3i) media technologies
• implements an entrepreneur pathway to translate research into industry impact.