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Academy's grant money to benefit local industry
04 Apr 03

The Canberra-based Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE), Australia’s leading 3D animation and games development trainer, was this week awarded $100,000 under the ACT Government’s Knowledge Fund Grant scheme by ACT Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism Ted Quinlan.

The AIE received the highest grant, topping the list of 15 businesses awarded a total of $800,000.

The AIE, through Canberra Technology Park, plans to use the grant funding to build state-of-the-art facilities that will greatly assist the local computer games development and 3D animation industries. “New technology and facilities enabled through the Knowledge Fund Grant will be sited at CTP and available to the ACT computer games and 3D animation industries” said Head of School, Ian Gibson.

The AIE plays an integral role in the education, training and supply of 3D animation artists and computer games programmers for the ACT industry. It was awarded the ACT Small Training Organisation of the Year 2002 Award and is actively involved in ongoing liaison with local industry in appraising its courses and seeking feedback on developing industry trends to incorporate the latest skill requirements into its courseware.

As another AIE initiative, Canberra Technology Park (CTP) was established in April 2001, principally to form an industry cluster centred on creative content businesses. It also serves as an incubator-style environment to start-up 3D animation and computer games development companies, and provides synergy for related companies.

New tenants are joining CTP regularly, with current numbers at 18.

The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) is the premier 3D animation and computer games development training organisation in Australia and is a hub for skills development within this industry nationally, and within ACT. It has graduated over 600 students since 1996 and is the driving force behind the Game Developers Association of Australia. The Academy runs a number of courses in partnership with Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) and has a close scholarship arrangement with Sony Interactive Foundation.

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