COVER IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGY
Above and left:
The police service is
turning to VR to train
new recruits
www.newelectronics.co.uk 23 February 2021 11
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R&D spending there remains a lack
of detailed planning, which can be
frustrating.”
Driscoll makes the point that
a lot of work still remains to be
done in encouraging greater
collaboration between start-ups and
more established businesses, and
suggested there should be greater
focus on cross-tech applications and
called for a move towards what she
described as more ‘technology fusion’.
“The UK immersive industry is still
struggling to reach commercial scale
and while many small companies
have created a startling mix of really
impressive and innovative applications,
few have been able to scale their
operations,” she said.
“The perception of the immersive
industry is another issue,” Driscoll
conceded. “It’s up against 5G, AI and
the Internet of Things, which are far
larger markets that have scaled more
effectively. Not only are there plenty of
tech start-ups working in these spaces
but signi cant government funding is
available.
“The immersive industry, here in
the UK, lacks a large home-grown
champion so there’s certainly an issue
when it comes to raising the sector’s
pro le.”
According to Driscoll it’s hard to
break out of the niche view many hold
of the sector – there’s been limited
research into headset use, which has
made it harder to build a business
case while, “anyone can use a mobile
handset.”
“We need to embrace more
innovative business models going
forward, perhaps using a licensing
model, but the opportunities, and the
ideas, are there.”
Augmentor start-ups
Among the companies that took
part in what was the fourth edition
of the Augmentor programme were
Manchester-based Evidential. It has
produced EVITA, a major incident
VR training platform that has been
designed to equip police of cers with
essential soft and hard skills.
Having already received backing
from Innovate UK it has also developed
another product, Golden Hour that uses
AR to improve the preservation of crime
scenes.
Another, Emperia, has developed a
platform to boost sales and customer
engagement for businesses in art
and luxury fashion and has created
a variety of virtual reality experiences
that help to improve the way that
products can be seen online in 3D - it’s
currently working with more than 25
clients, including Maddox Gallery and
Skarstedt, to bring different physical
experiences into the virtual world.
Based in Shef eld Slated Theory
has created a platform that visualises
data and has developed a cloud based
3D data visualisation tool called
“Alaira” that uses XR and immersive
analytics to bring people together to
analyse multiple data sets in real time,
with the aim of driving faster decision
making within organisations.
Another is MOONHUB, which is
looking to disrupt traditional training
models through the use of a high
quality, immersive training platform
which uses VR to convert e-learning
solutions into interactive training
scenarios to improve employee
engagement.
According to CEO and founder, Dami
Hastrup, “We use deployable VR to
enable our clients to provide immersive
and interactive training using their own
learning and development content. It’s
both intuitive and easy to use and our
aim is to make the use of VR as easy
as using a tablet is today.
“When we set the business up
we saw a glaring gap in the market
for a uni ed platform capable of
deliver training and we thought a VR
platform was a great tool for providing
more information and data, enabling
clients to get more out of their training
content.”
Turning to the Augmentor
programme Hastrup said that their
decision to get involved was because,
“we wanted to surround ourselves with
like-minded businesses – immersive
start-ups facing the kinds of problems
that, perhaps, other new businesses
wouldn’t necessarily face. Having
a cohort of likeminded companies
was really important to us and the
programme helped to raise awareness
of the business among both potential
investors and clients.”
Hastrup said that the industry has
had to contend with reputational issues
from previous waves of failed VR
projects.
“The technology
has come a long
way and we’re
now deploying
platforms and
presenting
solutions that are
live, scalable and
easy to use.”
Dami Hastrup
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