Even as the first campus of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) was inaugurated yesterday in Mumbai by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, a government report released on the inaugural WAVES stated that over $1.1 billion in media and entertainment deals and investment commitments were finalised during the event held from May 1-4.

The World Audio-Visual Entertainment Summit or ; 2025, according to the post-event report released yesterday in Mumbai in the presence of senior government functionaries from the federal and State governments, was more than a summit — it was a “movement”.

With participation from over 100 countries, over 1000,000 visitors and business deals worth billions of rupees, the summit has set a new benchmark for global creative ecosystems, the report observed.

The four-day summit saw the presence of some of the top global and Indian M&E industry stalwarts including Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani, JioStar Vice-Chairman Uday Shankar, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, YouTube chief Neil Mohan, ad firm WPP global head Mark Read, Amazon Prime Video’s global head of Originals Kelly Day, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Sony Group’s global chief  Hiroki Totoki, amongst a galaxy of other celebrities like Sharukh Khan, Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rajinikanth and Shekhar Kapoor.

The WAVES report was released by Vaishnaw in the presence of MIB’s junior minister Dr. Murugan, Maharashtra State Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other senior government officials and dignitaries.

From the inauguration of the Bharat Pavilion, which showcased India’s diverse cultural tapestry, to the adoption of the WAVES Declaration, the event reinforced the transformative power of media as a force for social good, economic prosperity and diplomatic synergy. The announcements of co-production treaties, the IICT and investments in the creator economy reflect the government’s resolve to build a future where every voice finds a global audience, the report said.

Some of the notable deals and projects, according to the report, were as follows:

# Indo-European Animation Alliance (€30 million).

# Broadvision Perspectives (India) and Fabrique d’Images Group (Europe) forged a €30 million co-production deal for four animated features, setting a new benchmark for Indo-European animation collaborations.

# UK-India Co-Production Milestone. The Bridge (UK) and Graphiti Studios (India) signed an MoU to co-produce factual television series under the India-UK audiovisual co-production framework, bringing rich Indian history to global audiences.

# A top select film, ‘Khidki Gaon’ secured a major post-production and VFX deal with the prestigious Asian Cinema Fund (ACF), a key initiative of the Busan International Film Festival, bolstering the film’s international exposure.

# ‘Jahaan’, a short film starring Tiger Shroff and directed by Rahul Shetty, was met with a remarkable response at WAVES Bazaar. The film’s success has ignited conversations around potential international collaborations and screenings, underlining its strong appeal in the global market.

IICT gets Its First Campus in Mumbai: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw yesterday inaugurated the first campus of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) in Mumbai, and said more such institutions will be created in future on the lines of IITs and IIMs.

Speaking at the inauguration of the first IICT campus on the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) premises, Vaishnaw said the institute has partnered with Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and WPP to design industry-focused training modules in the fields of VFX, gaming and extended reality (XR), a PTI report from Mumbai stated.

According to the official media statement put out by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting yesterday, which was accessed by Indianbroadcastingworld.com, Vaishnaw added it was important to provide the people working in the creative economy with new skills, training and tools and to bring the best practices of the world to India.

“Then only new incubations, new ideas and new technologies will be made in India,” the Minister asserted, expressing happiness about the first IICT campus being started in a short period of time.

The next campus coming up on land provided by the Government of Maharashtra at Film City, is being built aesthetically and in tune with the natural surroundings, Vaishnaw informed, adding that a budget of Rs. 400 crores has been allocated for the IICT.

Maharashtra CM Fadnavis, who was also present, said the State Government was committed to making Mumbai the global capital of the creative economy.

The CM expressed hope that the IICT campus, which was coming up at Film City, would emerge not only as an institution of world-class education, but also as an architectural and cultural landmark that would attract people from across the globe.

Dignitaries present on the IICT campus inauguration included noted filmmaker and IFFI festival director Shekhar Kapur and renowned lyricist and CBFC Chairperson Prasoon Joshi.