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LITE, the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, was established as a cooperative effort between Louisiana Economic Development, the Lafayette
Economic Development Authority, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Mission Statement
LITE catalyzes economic development through innovation
involving leading edge immersive techniques and technologies
and by fostering partnerships that strengthen Louisiana's economy.
Functioning as a young, energetic, technology-based economic development
entity, LITE considers economic development an umbrella term encompassing
several key areas:
- Business development
(retention, recruitment, entrepreneurship/incubation, best practices)
- Technological development
(research, innovation, technology transfer, best practices)
- Workforce development
(education, training, certification/continuing education, best practices)
Collaboration and partnership are key; we are always stronger
working together than we could ever be standing alone. LITE views
the economy as a complex ecosystem, with many interdependent components.
When those component parts work in harmony, the system as a whole thrives.
LITE seeks to inspire the creative thinking and transformational change
needed to strengthen and diversify Louisiana's economy.
LITE is active with outreach efforts, including an
open house for the general public on the first Wednesday of every month.
LITE also hosts a number of other events including special tours, bill
signings, press conferences, film screenings, film production, ceremonies,
training sessions, speaking events, and private meetings.
Significant Collaborations to Date:
LITE is involved in a growing number of collaborations with businesses,
educational institutions, non-profits, and multiple local, state, and
federal agencies. Some involve full research or development projects, while
others involve the prototyping of new applications, infrastructures, or partnerships.
Noteworthy projects include:
| Global Industries
Visualizations of two vessels and two underwater scenes
created by LITE, displayed stereoscopically in Global's
booth at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston |
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Our Lady Of Lourdes
Visualizations created by LITE of three interior spaces (atrium
lobby, patient room, and chapel) in the new hospital campus,
currently under construction, and the hosting of several stakeholder meetings |
| Bullet Films/Sweet Post
Enhancing Bullet and Sweet Post visual effects capabilities
through LITE providing access to high-end hardware and software tools
that are typically found in the larger studios |
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Fire simulation and visualization
Computational fluid dynamics simulation and
visualization of warehouse fires created by LITE |
| UL-Lafayette
Snapshot of UL-Lafayette research using or supported by LITE:
-Visualization of geophysical, topographic, and LIDAR data; Kinsland/Geology, Borst/CACS
-LITE hosting Digital Media Stock Machine; Richard/Cinematic Arts Workshop
-CajunBot/Robot in virtual and real environments; Lakhotia/CACS
-Weather forecast simulations of extreme rainfall; Habib/Civil Engineering
-Software tools for creation of outdoor scenes from LIDAR data; Chu/CACS
-Virtual Reality Welder Trainer; Reiners/CACS, et al.
-3rd Generation Omnidirectional Treadmill; Cruz-Niera/Computer Engineering, et al.
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Performing Arts Society of Acadiana
Video created by LITE and technical support for a live
performance of David Parsons Dance Project and the East
Village Opera Company at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan |
| IEEE VR 2009
The 2009 IEEE Virtual Reality conference was held at the Convention Center in
Lafayette; LITE staff members were involved with administration, creating posters, web
content, and other collateral, and LITE hosted the Monday night reception |
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NOAA, National Weather Service
Prototype visualization created by LITE of LIDAR data provided
by NOAA/NWS, and hosting of the Gulf Coast Marine Conference (Guest speaker: Dr. Steve Lyons of the Weather Channel) |
| Southern Mutual Help Association
Visualizations created by LITE for the Hopkins Street
Revitalization Project in New Iberia, and hosting of a stakeholder meeting |
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3D Squared
LITE providing hardware and software for the game lab, and
hosting the game lab and digital media workforce intensives |
| Geophysical Society, ESRI
LITE serving as host facility for the newly formed
Louisiana ESRI users group |
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UL-Lafayette Cinematic Arts Workshop (CAW)
Two significant LITE Co-Productions with CAW: one is a CAW video production
for the Lafayette Entertainment Initiative featured at the Cannes Film Festival, the
other is a series of promotional videos produced by LITE for web and broadcast |
| LEDA, TECHsploration
LITE served as host for TECHsploration, Lafayette's Energy and
Technology Showcase, following the Deep Offshore Technology International
Conference |
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Significant Upcoming Collaborations and Projects (assuming adequate funding):
| Formal training study
Contract pending for LITE to participate in a formal study
evaluating the use of virtual world technologies for
training |
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Large scale data transfer and high performance computing
Pending prototype to determine technical
feasibility of transferring tens of terabytes of data across the
National Lambda Rail and LONI to LITE for subsequent intensive
computation on the Altix 4700 |
| Partnership in virtual training
Potential partnership between LITE and a company that does
virtual training, as part of LEDA's efforts to draw
that company to Lafayette |
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Community development
Project pending for LITE to create community development
visualizations for a Traditional Neighborhood
Development, and hosting of stakeholder meetings |
| LEDA
Pending project for LITE to create visualizations for
proposed redevelopment of a downtown block in Lafayette;
likely to include hosting of several stakeholder meetings |
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Lafayette Consolidated Government
Potential project for LITE to create visualizations, and possibly
simulations, to support the Johnston Street redevelopment
effort; likely to include hosting of several stakeholder meetings |
| UL-Lafayette
Visualization of UL-Lafayette campus and research
park currently under preliminary development at LITE |
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LED, LEDA, UL-Lafayette, LEI, LUS, et al.
Statewide collaboration, including LED and stakeholders from
New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport/Bossier, and Lafayette
to stand up a Louisiana booth at SIGGRAPH in New Orleans, in August |
| Lafayette Consolidated Government
Potential project for LITE to create visualizations of the
proposed Atakapas-Ishak Trail (bicycle trail) for Lafayette
Parish; likely to include several stakeholder meetings |
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Academy of Information Technology (AOIT), Carencro High School
LITE entering third consecutive year of providing a summer intern
experience for selected students from Carencro High School and
elsewhere; students work hands-on with LITE staff to gain relevant real world expertise |
| National Lightpath, BAVC, LPB, LONI, LUS, LPSS, AOIT, et al.
Wide reaching potential collaboration interested in educational prototypes
at the nexus of high-bandwidth fiber networks and the proliferation of
audio/video and gaming/virtual world technologies; questions of
transformational change in the educational experience |
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Lafayette Public Library
Planned introductory courses on Digital Art and
3D Animation created and delivered by LITE staff
as part of the library's summer teen program |
| LITE Internship Program
Planning has begun for a larger scale summer internship program
at LITE, involving high school and college students
from around the state working hands-on with LITE staff to gain relevant real world experience |
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