Less than two months after introducing Cesium Ecosystem Grants, the company has awarded their first four grants targeting the 3D geospatial ecosystem.
Last week, Cesium announced the first four recipients of their Ecosystem Grants, their “commitment to fuel innovation, increase interoperability, lower the barrier for entry, and expand the 3D geospatial ecosystem.” They will continue to hand out grants on a rolling basis, but the first four to be awarded grants from the 3D geospatial company were: Ethan Berg of Agora World, Emma Hain of North Road, the Hidenori Watanave Laboratory at the University of Tokyo, and Peter Kimberley of Gradata Systems.
Cesium first announced their new Ecosystem Grants program back in late March, continuing the company’s foundation in the idea that, in order for the 3D geospatial ecosystem to reach its full potential, openness needs to be a defining characteristic. This program includes a pool of $1 million (USD) in funding, with recipients receiving grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 while retaining full ownership of their work. In looking for recipients, impact, innovation, viability, inclusion, and openness are the broad criteria for which Cesium has said they are looking, with the general idea that grants will “positively impact the 3D geospatial ecosystem.”
Below is some information about the four initial grantees from Cesium’s Ecosystem Grants, with text in italics from Cesium's announcement of the news.
GeoForAll: Simplifying 3D Geospatial Metaverse Creation
Recipient: Ethan Berg, Agora World, Philadelphia, PA, USA
“Agora World offers a user-friendly, no-code 3D geospatial metaverse design platform, democratizing access to and empowering users to create immersive experiences.”
This is a clear alignment with Cesium’s ethos and the idea behind these grants, as Agora World’s goal is to make it easier to create these 3D ecosystems. That’s something that will become more in demand in the coming years as technology allows easier experience in these worlds, and not everyone who wants to create one will have the technical know-how to do so well. That’s what the GeoForAll project is aiming to counteract. Agora World currently has solutions for virtual events, interactive education experiences, business use cases, and digital twins.
