France

Innovators/Entrepreneurs

Date of the expedition

From 01/09/2023 to 29/02/2024

Selected Track

Open Ideas

Project title

SPARTA - Secure, Privacy Aware Extended Reality Platform

Host Organization

Arizona State University

Media

Biography

Soumya Kanti Datta is the Founder, CEO of Digiotouch. He has 12+ years of experience in research and innovation at the intersection of Cybersecurity, Cloud & Edge Computing, and Platform Engineering.  He has R&D results won awards in IEEE WF-IoT 2019 (Ireland), EU Datathon 2018 (Belgium), IEEE TenSymp 2018 (Australia), IEEE ISCE 2017 (Malaysia), and IEEE GCCE 2015 (Japan) for my research and leadership in the IoT. His current focus is on GenAI and XR powered EdTech platform called Digiotouch Academy.

Project Summary

There is high cost associated with XR app and content development. It typically takes 6+ months, requires highly specialised skills and software licenses, and often the return on investment is not guaranteed. Moreover, current app development platforms are not fully security and privacy aware. Such factors contribute to XR ecosystem from being mainstream. The main purpose of SPARTA is to develop a secure, privacy aware platform for XR content creation and publishing. The primary target of the platform are XR app developers, platform developers, and XR scientific community.

Key Result

The key result of SPARTA is the platform for XR content creation and publishing with natively built security and privacy features. At the half-way point of the project, a prototype of the platform is ready where raw immersive, 360-degree videos can be uploaded, which are processed to finalise the XR content, and published using a mobile app.

Impact of the Fellowship

Starting from the expected impact described in the application form. For instance:

  • Development/advancement of innovative technologies
    • SPARTA has developed an advanced platform for emerging XR domain where a platform prototype has been implemented. It is capable of storing raw immersive, 360-degree videos in cloud storage, which are then processed to finalise the XR content, and published using a mobile app.
  • Testing technologies (demo, pilot…)
    • An intermediate version of the mobile app has been produced for Android devices and is available at the Google Play Store – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.uppet.vr.
    • The final version of the platform will focus on both iPhone and Android apps and the launch name and branding are being worked on.
  • Testing technologies on the market in the US/Canada
    • During the beginning of 2024, Soumya will start to show this technology to potential beta testers/customers on the US and Canadian market to obtain feedback and find an initial product-market fit.
  • Sound Scientific Validation
  • Advancing standards
  • Strengthening research collaboration with the US/Canada
    • As a part of the ongoing project, Soumya is exploring research collaboration with ASU and Northeastern University for future NGI related projects.
  • Strengthening innovation collaboration with the US/Canada
    • Same as above
  • Building solid connections and partnerships in Europe and in the US/Canada
    • At the present moment, Soumya has already built connections in ASU, Northeastern University, as well as University of Victoria in Canada.
  • Accelerated contacts/engagements with investors, VCs
    • While initial contacts are made with some VC scouts, concrete engagement with investors will be made from beginning of 2024.
  • Accelerated contacts/engagements with R&D partners for future collaborations
  • Accelerated business partnerships for developed technologies/solutions
  • Reinforced integration of social sciences and humanities in the project
  • Fundraising (proposals to public organisations) – indicate, in the US/Canada or Europe
    • Private fundraising is scheduled to start from beginning of 2024.
    • Further participation in Horizon Europe projects are already underway with European partners.
  • Expanding collaboration within the NGI community
  • Technical integration of the products
    • At the end of the SPARTA, all outcomes will be integrated with Digiotouch’s cloud based Paradise platform for commercialisation (starting Q3 2024).
  • Mirrored fellowship from the host organisation to Europe
  • Paper submission for further publication – indicate, only EU author(s), or jointly with the host organisation;
  • Conference attendance with paper/poster/ proceedings
  • Start-up establishment
  • Career advancement
  • New Job opportunities