Dr. Sana Farid of Munfarid appointed Co-Chair of VRARA Healthcare Committee

We are thrilled to have Dr. Sana Farid, a General Surgeon, Co-Founder & CEO at Munfarid, President MENA Chapter, and Co-Chair Healthcare Committee to provide her thought-leadership to help accelerate the industry for us all.

Dr. Sana Farid is a zealous Healthcare provider, she is a General Surgeon, Educator, and strives to utilize Futuristic Technologies to improve Healthcare practices.

As a co-founder of Munfarid, Dr. Sana leads one of the pioneers and spearheading XR companies in the region. Munfarid is an elegant concoction of dedication and empowerment via disruptive intelligence. Discovering and implementing revolutionary Immersive applications for Educational, Training, and Healthcare industries.

Her ingenious vision led to the foundation of the VRARA MENA Chapter helping to expand, reach, and connect ingenious XR experts and enthusiasts.

At her new role as Co-Chair of the Healthcare Committee, Dr. Sana aspires to augment the scope of XR in patient care, impacts the lives of millions in developing countries, builds industry standards for XR in Healthcare, and make the world a better place.

“Immersive Tech, intelligent connectivity coupled with human interaction are opening new doors for major revolutions in the Healthcare industry, from hands-on training, clinical skills development, patient education, and awareness, as well as therapeutic uses. The future of healthcare is technology-oriented.

We are truly living in revolutionary times for healthcare thanks to the advent of digital health, and to drive such innovations, the VRAR Association is working incessantly, bringing the global XR communities closer together enabling a robust and fruitful interaction between like-minded entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts and a chance to learn and acquire knowledge from each other.

Our mission at the Healthcare committee will be to spread the knowledge and developments in healthcare which will usher the real era of the Healthcare industry” 

- Dr. Sana Farid

VRARA Healthcare Report 2020 featuring 50 companies and startups (Download Report)

Download report

Healthcare Report 2020 downloads

This Healthcare Industry Sector Report includes a wide range of companies and startups and the kinds of customers they serve, showing how impactful their VR and AR solutions have become to healthcare customers.

Given the world’s current pandemic situation where there are travel restrictions and the increased need for remote and virtual healthcare (i.e, virtual clinics), training and the reskilling of millions in the workforce, it is now more important than ever for companies to have healthcare ready, easy to deploy digital solutions. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality have proven to show value within many critical healthcare verticals including training, surgery, wellbeing, etc.

There are plenty of other examples and predictions that demonstrate the importance of VR and AR to forward-thinking healthcare in the immediate future. Successful trials (and increasing number of deployments) of VR and AR in healthcare are getting the competitors of early adopters companies to start recognizing that they may be missing out on the real strategic advantage they can achieve.

Foreword by 4dmed.ltd

I picked up the phone and heard my long-time client Sam say, “How do I slow down the clients coming in? I can’t keep up!” As we know that this virus has forced us to stay at homes and medical students, doctors and trainees are not able to go to their respective places. It is not just about the medical field, this pandemic has affected all without any discrimination. During these hard times, we are providing efficient ways to train the healthcare professionals. 4DMEDLtd is medical software and medical device Development Company that designs interfaces for the health care education research.

With the help of this platform, you will pass through these tough times.We have used the VR technology to help the VR industry achieve its target of training people. 4DMED has created a library so that people can achieve best health program for their environment. Cloud has started two programs; one is to train the surgeons virtually via senior trainers and the other is to train junior trainees, nurses and medical students. 4DMED products includes a simulator which offers double screen feature to keep the trainees engaged and help them learn quickly.Complete surgeries can be practiced at increasing levels of difficulty, so that the trainees get all the experience. 4DMED has also designed a software suite of virtual reality for the medical training sector. It will help reduce the human error and will assist the VR industry.

This virtual reality platform created will help the seniors with improved mental health as well as physical health due to continuous movement of body while usingVR. Discussions among the seniors will provide residents with much useful information; which is necessary for a happy community.4DMED advanced software and hardware technology will help medical professionals to experience real life surgical simulation. VR headset and touch sensor helps the user to interact with virtual operation rooms. This real life experience fills the communication gap and also increases the decision making of the medical staff.

4DMEDoffers a wide range of simulator technologies depending up on the objectives of respective medical professional. This virtual technology creates a realistic training environment for the medical professionals. We are playing our part for the VR industry by using the virtual reality technology to teach different universities and colleges from around the globe. It includes universities of Canada, USA, Europe, Asia, and Middle East. The purpose of using this technology to assist people in training and making their lives normal during this rough time.AugmentedReality and Virtual Reality have proven to show value within many critical healthcare verticals including training, surgery, wellbeing, etc.

Dr Nevil Chimon

Director of 4DMed ltd

Foreword by Dark Slope

THE FUTURE OF LEARNING IS IMMERSIVE. This belief is at the core of Dark Slope’s Involve XR platform; a technology that has been built to empower instructors and training organizations to migrate their scenario training programs in to the virtual world.

It is impossible to ignore the ways our world has transformed seemingly overnight. Entire industries have had to contend with what we’re now referring to as our new reality. We’ve heard the phrases “pivot,” “adapt” and “innovate”more in the last four months than cumulatively over the past two years. Alongside this up heaval we have seen how the pandemic has single handedly accelerated the adoption of ‘emerging’ technologies like VR and AR. Most importantly we have caught a glimpse of how these technologies can play a critical and transformational role in up skilling today’s workforce and in training the next generation of health care workers.

Immersive learning will revolutionize how we train for high-risk jobs in the healthcare and safety fields, and how we most effectively arm doctors, nurses and first responders with critical skills best learned through practice. Dark Slope’s InvolveXR empowers training organizations to extend their offerings into VR and AR, allowing them to train remotely in live virtual classes with live ICU,ER, de-escalation, and other critical skill scenarios.

We recently announced our partnership withTheAmerican College of Chest Physicians(CHEST). Basedon CHEST’s curriculums we’re set to develop a complete virtual reality training program on intubation techniques and best practices that will be made available through our learning platform InvolveXR. Of course, airway procedures and intubation are topics at the forefront of critical care training right now, and we hope our technology can play a role in equipping critical care workers with skills and protocols they need to better combatCOVID-19.The training itself consists of live virtual scenario training, in fully immersive and interactive ICU environments with a trainer and other live learners present. Physicians and other critical care workers will engage with dynamic, team-based, true-to-life training scenarios on intubation procedures.

In this precarious time virtual simulation is emerging as a key pillar of support for healthcare workers, offering realistic experiences in safe, remote environments, effectively expediting the deployment of new skills and protocols, while reducing costs for simulation training. With all the healthcare industry challenges this year has brought, the responses to XR training has been reassuring. COVID-19 has underlined our belief in the massive potential of virtual learning and the ability to use these technologies to create amore skilled healthcare workforce, delivering better patient outcomes.

Raja Khanna

CEO, DarkSlope

Call for Participation in our Education Report for immersive solution. Call for Sponsors!

Submit here

Given the world’s current pandemic situation with school closures and the increased need for remote and virtual education (i.e, virtual classrooms), it is now more important than ever for companies to have education ready, easy to deploy digital solutions.

There are plenty of other examples and predictions that demonstrate the importance of VR and AR to forward-thinking education in the immediate future. Successful trials (and increasing number of deployments) of VR and AR in education are getting the competitors of early adopters companies to start recognizing that they may be missing out on the real strategic advantage they can achieve.

This report will be published in early Sept and will be promoted to the industry globally via our Newsletter (35K+ subs), Website (20K monthly visitors), at our upcoming VR/AR Global Summit Online, and via our partners.

Submit your company and Education solution info here by Aug 20

LBX Immersive sponsors VRARA Education to produce a resource guide

We are thrilled to have LBX Immersive sponsor VRARA Education.

LBX Immersive is looking forward to working with our Education community in order to help highlight use cases and encourage innovation in education.

LBX Immersive believes we must improve access to VR and AR for both faculty, students and developers. As affordability continues to be a barrier to expanding VR and AR in research and in the classroom at both universities and in secondary schools.

LBX Immersive and VRARA will play a role in highlighting the current and potential role of VR/AR in education and publish and present a resource guide for educators, faculty, and developers to access grants, as well as strategies to bring this valuable resource into the classroom and other learning environments.

To get involved email info@thevrara.com

Submit your Immersive Healthcare Solutions for our Industry Report, sponsored by 4DMED

Submit your company/solution info here

Deadline Aug 11

It’s free to submit and feature your company & solution, thanks to the sponsorship from 4DMED

This Healthcare Industry Sector Report will include a wide range of companies and the kinds of customers they serve, showing how impactful their VR and AR solutions have become to healthcare customers.

Given the world’s current pandemic situation where there are travel restrictions and the increased need for remote and virtual healthcare (i.e, virtual clinics), training and the reskilling of millions in the workforce, it is now more important than ever for companies to have healthcare ready, easy to deploy digital solutions. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality have proven to show value within many critical healthcare verticals including training, surgery, wellbeing, etc.

There are plenty of other examples and predictions that demonstrate the importance of VR and AR to forward-thinking healthcare in the immediate future. Successful trials (and increasing number of deployments) of VR and AR in healthcare are getting the competitors of early adopters companies to start recognizing that they may be missing out on the real strategic advantage they can achieve.

This report will be published in Aug and will be promoted to the industry globally via our Newsletter (35K+ subs), Website (20K monthly visitors), at our upcoming VR/AR Global Summit Online, and via our partners.

Submit your company/solution info here by Aug 11

Dan Ayoub of Microsoft appointed Co-Chair of our Education Committee

Join our Education Online Meets here

We are thrilled to have Dan Ayoub Co-Chair our Education Committee and provide his thought-leadership to help accelerate the industry for us all.

Dan Ayoub is the General Manager for Education at Microsoft. He oversees the development and execution of products and strategy aimed at using groundbreaking technology to improve learning outcomes for students of all ages around the world, with a focus on STEM Education, Higher Education, AI, and AR/VR.

Dan has over 20 years of AAA game development experience, and is passionate about the power and importance of education and ensuring that technology remains accessible to every human being on the planet. Based out of Seattle, Dan leads a team of passionate developers and educators working to shape the future of educational technology.

“I am thrilled to take this role as Co-Chair of the Education Committee for the VR/AR Association.

Having spent years working in the space, I see everyday the transformational power of our medium on education and the potential it has to change lives through improving outcomes for learners around the world. I look forward to working with the Committee and the rest of the community to continue to learn, to help bring the power of this technology to more and more people, and to help drive development efforts in the space”

— Dan Ayoub

Next steps for VRARA Universities & Colleges Committee, and Welcome Jon Gress as Co-Chair

See the latest VR & AR solutions at our VR/AR Global Summit ONLINE Conference+Expo Sept 16-18

We are thrilled to announce Jon Gress (see bio below) as Co-Chair for our University & Colleges Committee. 

Join our next Online Meet on July 1st!

“I’m very excited about the amazing progress I’ve seen in the VRARA and all the incredible people, talent, events, meetings and developments. I’d be pleased to co-chair the Committee and look forward to helping the VRARA continue to lead these exciting new immersive technology industries to a future of excellence.”

— Jon Gress

Feel free to email Jon with your ideas for projects or research for the Committee.

About the Committee

This committee shares and creates best practices, guidelines, and call to actions for university curricula and research relating to VR and AR. We meet every month online (next Online Meet is July 1st) to present recent case studies, projects, research, and enable a forum to discuss common problems and solutions. We have published a Report that features over 40 institutions that teach VR/AR. Plus, the active participants get preference to speak at our chapter events and Global Summits.

Jon Gress Bio

Jon Gress is the Academic Director, The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School at Universal Studios, Orlando, FL

With over 30 years of experience in motion picture, visual effects, immersive media technologies & production, Jon Gress has been on the cutting edge of digital production technologies since their beginnings. He has trained thousands of filmmakers and visual effects artists from all over the world, who have gone on from his training to secure jobs in top visual effects companies and have worked on blockbuster movies and award winning television series including:

24, 47 Ronin, Almost Human, Ant Man, Assassin's Creed, Captain America, Conan The Barbarian, CSI, Die Hard, Dredd, Fringe, Game of Thrones, GI Joe, Godzilla, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Harry Potter, Hawaii Five-O, Hugo, Iron Man, James Bond, John Carter, Life of Pi, Lost, MIB 3, Mirror Mirror, Narnia, Need for Speed, Oblivion, Olympus Has Fallen, Oz, Pacific Rim, Pirates of the Caribbean, Riddick, RIPD, Serenity, Snow White and the Huntsman, Spiderman, Stolen, Superman, Star Trek, Star Wars, Terra Nova, The Avengers, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Expendables, The Fast and the Furious, The Great Gatsby, The Green Hornet, The Green Lantern, The Hobbit, The Hulk, The Hunger Games, The Mechanic, The Twilight Saga, The Walking Dead, The Wolf of Wall Street, Thor, Titanic, Total Recall, Transformers, White House Down, Wolverine, X-Men, and many many more).

Jon is an active member of The Visual Effects Society, a published Pearson Higher Education author ("Digital Visual Effects & Compositing", the complete college curriculum textbook & instructor’s guide used in colleges all over the world), has been a regular writer/columnist for motion picture industry trade publications and has produced, directed and supervised hundreds of motion picture, television, VFX and cutting edge interactive multimedia & immersive productions (for institutions ranging from small independent to Fortune 100) since 1998.

Jon brings to The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School at Universal Studios, Orlando FL decades of expertise, research and development in cutting edge visualization technologies such as 3D Stereoscopic Imaging, 3D Photogrammetry, 360 & 180 VR photo/video, 3D motion tracking, capture & motion control, the integration of these into a the real-time visualization, VR, AR, MxR & Virtual Production development for Motion Pictures, Games, 3D Visual Effects and Fully Immersive Virtual Experiences.

Announcing new Leadership for VRARA Training Committee: Emily Smits (Canada), James Watson (Europe), Marlo Brooke (USA)

The VR/AR Association is thrilled to announce new co-chairs for our Training Committee. This committee creates best practices and guidelines for the VR/AR Training industry sector. The committee meets every 2 weeks online to present recent case studies, projects, research, and is forum to discuss common problems and solutions. Plus, the active participants get preference to speak at our chapter events and Global Summits.

The new c0-chairs are:

1. Emily Smits, Modest Tree (Canada)

2. James Watson, Immerse (Europe)

3. Marlo Brooke, AVATAR Partners (USA)

EMILY SMITS, COO, MODEST TREE

Emily Smits is the Chief Operating Office at Modest Tree, a Halifax software company that focuses on providing XR training for enterprise clients and is the creator of the Xplorer software for rapidly creating collaborative XR training and sales presentations. Modest Tree has worked with leading organizations to transform their customer sales and training through the use of virtual and augmented reality. Modest Tree is a North American Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner. 

Over the past 9 years, Emily has worked with the company through its continued growth, providing operational leadership.  Emily holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Laurentian University and is a designated accountant (CPA-CMA) and Project Management Professional (PMP).  Emily has been the Vice-Chair on the Digital Nova Scotia Board for the past 3 years  and is passionate about VR/AR technologies, bringing advanced digital solutions to the enterprise, and supporting entrepreneurship. 

JAMES WATSON, CMO, IMMERSE

James started his career in digital marketing and innovation over 20 years ago. The past 7 years he seen him work with companies including Major League Baseball, Shell, and DHL, to identify and deliver enterprise VR solutions. Currently, as Chief Marketing Officer at Immerse, he is working across industry sectors to help drive the adoption of enterprise VR training.

“Virtual Reality is enhancing human performance in ways that were once unthinkable. Today, it is transforming the way we learn, explore and interact. As a frontrunner in training and education, Immerse recognised this potential early and focused on developing an open platform to help companies increase their ROI from VR training.”

Immerse is the technology company behind the industry-leading virtual reality platform, Immerse VEP. Built for enterprise from the ground up, the platform helps companies create, scale and deploy VR training and maximise their ROI. 

Some of the world’s largest companies use Immerse VEP for training and assessment. They include firms as wide-ranging as Shell and GE Healthcare to DHL. While these companies come from a diverse mix of sectors and industries, they all have one thing in common: they recognise how VR training can increase their efficiency and want to extract the most value from it.

MARLO BROOKE, CEO, AVATAR PARTNERS

Founder & CEO of AVATAR Partners, Inc., an innovative woman-owned business serving Military and Commercial markets through the Extended Reality Ecosystem. AVATAR develops advanced Training Solutions and Software to improve Employee Safety, Corporate Profits and Drive Local, US-Based Business growth. Products include Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality productivity tools, Video and Interactive Multimedia Instruction (IMI) and Nex-Generation Visual Technical Manuals (NGVis). I am honored to lead the most talented, innovative team of employees in our industry, innovating cost-effective, practical, best-in-class solutions to our customers.

Call for Participation: Future of Work, Remote Collaboration, Remote Work (Enterprise Report). Report is already supported by RE'FLEKT

If you want to be featured in this report, fill out this form (deadline to submit is July 1st)

If you are interested to sponsor this report, email info@thevrara.com

THANK YOU to RE'FLEKT for already supporting our efforts with this report!

Given the world’s current pandemic situation where there are travel restrictions and the increased need for remote work, remote assistance, training and the reskilling of millions in the workforce, it is now more important than ever for companies to have enterprise ready, easy to deploy digital solutions. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality have proven to show value within many critical enterprise verticals including manufacturing, architecture, engineering, construction, energy and the utilities sectors.

This report will cover the current global situation and how customers are deploying Enterprise solutions like remote assistance, guided workflows, remote collaboration, and training programs to improve productivity, reduce errors, increase learning retention, and decrease service resolution times.

The report will feature companies specializing in VR/AR for B2B Enterprise solutions. The report will be published in early Sept and will be promoted to the industry globally via our Newsletter (35K emails), Website (20K monthly visitors), at our upcoming VR/AR Global Summit Online (10,000+ attendees) in Sept , and via our partners.

Our last Enterprise Report featured over 100 companies. See more and get a copy here

Virtual Reality Platforms for Online Virtual Events in Education

See the latest in Virtual and Augmented Reality at our upcoming VR/AR Global Summit ONLINE Conference!

More info here

Join our Education Committee here

Today, due to the coronavirus pandemic, a large part of the world population is confined at their homes and millions of children around the world have closed schools. A situation that forces all education community, to search for efficient and possible alternatives, in order to keep up the pace of the educational year and keep the attention of students in their educational activity.

These days there are many alternatives offering quickly and running like miraculous solutions capable of solving even the unimaginable.

But the truth is that between 17/22 of February, thanks to the initiative of Educators In VR, a group of teachers, students and volunteers from all over the world, with the sponsorship, among others of the VR/AR Association and the #Education Committee. During these days, we were able to bring together more than 150 speakers, almost 100 volunteers and several thousand attendees to the largest Virtual World Event on Education ever imagined. A six days non-stop Summit, with speakers from all continents, in a marathon week in perfect coordination. An exceptional work and developed with great professionalism and enthusiasm by a group of authentic pioneers, among whom we can give thanks for meeting and having lived that fantastic experience in first person.

2020 Educators in VR International Summit brings together educators, learners, researchers, and experts in VR, AR, and XR to share their passion for integrating immersive technology in education.

We want to thank Daniel Dyboski-Bryant, alma-matter of the Summit and Lorelle VanFossen to make it happened: "More than 150 top speakers from all over the world during more than 100 sessions in 6 days". It was just an amazing experience as "Really Pioneers" and putting in common best practices, lessons learned and case studies in VR / AR in Education.

During this event, the VR/AR Association #Education Committee in collaboration with MetaVRse and ONE Digital Consulting organized the #VRARA Panel.

Julie Andersen Smithson, and Carlos J. Ochoa Fernandez ,leaded the conversation with the contribution of Olivia Wenzel and Pat Owens. During the presentation, we talked about our mission and activities to promote and develop a professional VR in Education Global Ecosystem, working with top professionals and top companies all around the world.

The VR/AR Association is an international organization designed to foster collaboration between innovative companies and people in the VR and AR ecosystem that accelerates growth, fosters research and education, helps develop industry standards, connects member organizations and promotes the services of member companies. There are over 70 VRARA chapters, with more than 30 Industry experts Committees around the world that meet regularly in person and online.

Carlos J. Ochoa Fernandez is the Chapter President of VR/AR Association, Madrid and Co-Chair of Education Committee.

Now you can see the complete session here, and get the immersive perception of what is Immersive Learning in VR Spaces:

The VR/AR Association publishes best practices for Aerospace with Scope AR, DiSTI, FutureVisual, Sam Trevino, Dr. Alethea Duhon, among others

GET THE REPORT

Aerospace white paper

This publication is part of an ongoing discussion on the wide-ranging applications ofVR/AR technologies in the broader Aerospace framework.

These case studies are intended to assist in understanding the challenges faced by these companies, the impact of adopting these technologies as solutions, and the recommended best practices for VR,AR applications in the aerospace industry.

We encourage continuous industry feedback to keep this a living document. As a committee, we intend to update this material as needed.

The Aerospace Committee of the VR/AR Association serves as a resource to promote the application of VR/AR technology as a solution to a number of traditional problems in aerospace. The committee enables the sharing of best practices and information on VR/AR related applications in the aerospace industry as well as curate industry relevant case studies. Furthermore, the committee shapes and recommends best practices for the scaling of VR/AR applications across aerospace.

Foreword

The bar for operational excellence has moved up. Virtual work-place training and augmented overlays serving as a medium to present teams and people with important information are commonplace. In aerospace, it’s a race among common players, new disruptors, and players in other verticals to lead the charge; who can use new tools to eliminate old problems. And how far can we, should we, go with this technology?

Analyze, develop, test, repeat. Get a developer with a vision, or a visionary with a developer, and the previous limit is 50,000feet below you. But you’re not alone at that altitude. We still have rules, and reliable processes, virtual and augmented reality support existing operations, not scrap them. What’s so special is the immediate and continuous impact these tools have to accelerate the learning/training process and lower fixed and variable costs. These tools empower employees to create content libraries of reusable training making visualizing data possible. Because of this, errors are caught earlier; defects are reduced.Tests are more thorough. Pilots and technicians are prepared for more extreme scenarios. Every aspect of developing and operating a manned or unmanned aircraft has some story of how they’ve improved using these tools.

Experience-based training. Soak on that. What is experienced-based training? It used to align with creating simulations that involved as real of a scenario as an under-funded training program could provide.Now, it’s using VR to practice starting an aircraft 50 times (in every temperature, night, day, backward, forward, at every airport) before you before you ever see a physical aircraft. It’s validating and practicing work instructions to connect a wing to an aircraft within the time manufacturing engineers estimated without needing hardware to train. It’s taking your client(who happens to be on the other side of the world) into a virtual world to visualize what your product fully integrated and operating well for them means. The contributors to this document speak this type of success based upon the tools they’re creating for us.People using their products, and products like theirs, know so much more, learn and innovate so much quicker, identify root causes earlier, increase product reliability, and position their organizations to support technological art that is Industry 4.0.

This isn’t a blip on the productivity radar that will level off as soon as the gimmick is over. This isn’t the 30-day app. This is some variant ofThe Matrix happening right before our eyes. Quite literally. Right now, experienced workers are adding augmented reality overlays to processes and procedures (visual cues to notes, cautions, and warnings, for example) and uploading these sessions to a learning management system ready to deploy the knowledge globally.TheIoT of manufacturing and production identifies when someone hasn’t performed a task recently offers proficiency training, publications, checklists, and SME support within their field of view the day before the task is likely to be completed. There is some information that we know, but still so much we don’t know. How far will this go?Where does the virtual line stop, and the physical line stay? What we do know is this technology is spreading quickly because it’s so effective. Teams are diving deep and using more tools to get to hyper performing organizations in every vertical. Thank you to the contributors within this document.They are a joy to watch, let alone work alongside.

This Thur, attend our Defense & Intelligence webinar expert panel to learn the latest best, practices, case studies with ROIs

RSVP here

RSVP for our Enterprise webinar with GE Hitachi, Atheer, AfterNow, enduvo, VRdircet, meetingRoom, General Electric!

RSVP here

Learn the latest case studies and ROI for VR AR in the Enterprise from our Enterprise Committee

RSVP for our Healthcare Webinar with Kessler Foundation, Oxford Medical, Univ of Florida, CleanBox, Artiness

RSVP here

See new use cases and applications for Medical solutions using VR AR technologies! Plus, participate in our live Q&A!

Call for Sponsors: VR/AR in Education Report

If interested to Sponsor, email info@thevrara.com

The VR/AR Association is producing an Education Report, an update to our previous Report version (Q4 2018) here, which spotlights some of the best, education-focused companies working in the immersive technologies field right now.

By the year 2025, immersive technologies of XR including augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality—will be as ubiquitous as mobile devices in the opinion of several consulting firms and Associations. As the Education Committee, we have come together globally to share best practices, reflections, experiences, case studies, meetings, where collectively work together to build global standards for VR & AR Technology. 

VR/AR in Education

• 97% of students would like to study a VR course.

• Education is expected to be the 4th biggest sector for VR investments.

• VR in education is predicted to be a $200 million industry by 2020 and $700 million by 2025.

• Almost 80% of teachers have access to virtual reality devices, but only 6.87% use them regularly in the educational process

• 93% of teachers said that their students would be excited to use virtual reality

• 7 out of 10 teachers want to use VR to simulate experiences that are relevant to the material covered in class

According to Statista research, 92% of respondents in the USA know the term Virtual Reality

New technologies are an emerging industry creating employment opportunities and entrepreneurial possibilities. According to projections set out by the European Commission, market demands for qualified information and communications technology (ICT) specialists will not be met, seeing a shortfall of up to 750,000 ICT professionals in 2025. VR/AR products are amongst those with some of the highest market demand in the ICT sector.

Many case studies demonstrate the impact and benefits of VR/AR in Education and Training today. Immersive experiences in virtual classrooms, immersive simulators, virtual labs, 3d content creation, 360º videos experiences, are some examples you can find in schools, vocational training centers…all around the world.

The VR/AR Education Industry Sector Report includes a wide range of companies and the kinds of customers they serve, showing how impactful their VR and AR solutions have become to education community. A quick look through this report also makes it clear just how targeted many of these companies are, with products and services often aimed squarely at specific topics and use cases.

As part of our new Mission “Jumping into the Future of XR in Education, diving in Blue Oceans Vision 2025”, we invite you to participate in our new VRARA Education Ecosystem.

The Report will be promoted globally and presented at events around the world.

About VR/AR Association

The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is an international organization designed to foster collaboration between innovative companies and people in the VR and AR ecosystem that accelerates growth, research and education, and develops best practices and guidelines. VRARA has over 4300 companies and 28,000 professionals registered, over 70 chapters globally, and 25 industry committees. VRARA programs & initiatives are designed to accelerate anyone’s growth, knowledge, and connections. Learn more here  

If interested to Sponsor, email info@thevrara.com

Call for Sponsors: Enterprise Industry Report

If interested to sponsor, email info@thevrara.com

This VR/AR Enterprise Industry Sector Report will include a wide range of companies and the kinds of customers they serve, showing how impactful their VR and AR solutions have become to enterprise customers. A quick look through this report also makes it clear just how targeted many of these companies are, with products and services often aimed squarely at specific industries and use cases.

Our 2019 report included 100+ companies!

Worldwide spending on VR/AR is forecasted at $20B in 2019 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 69.6% (IDC). According to Gartner, the use of VR and AR are one of six top technology workplace trends that will drive the digital workplace and “are ready for mainstream businesses.” And, Nielsen concluded enterprises adopting VR/AR training technology will save $13.5B that would otherwise have been spent on traditional training that includes instructors, dedicated learning spaces and traveling to remote facilities.

There are plenty of other examples and predictions that demonstrate the importance of VR and AR to forward-thinking enterprises in the immediate future. Successful trials (and increasing number of deployments) of VR and AR in enterprises are getting the competitors of early adopters companies to start recognizing that they may be missing out on the real strategic advantage they can achieve.

See the 2019 report version here

If interested to sponsor, email info@thevrara.com

Call for Sponsors: VR AR Best Practices for the Aerospace Industry (Publication)

If interested to sponsor, email info@thevrara.com

The VR/AR Association Aerospace Committee has drafted best practices and guidelines for the Aerospace industry.

The Aerospace Committee serves as a resource to promote the application of VR/AR technology as a solution to a number of traditional problems in aerospace. The committee will enable the sharing of best practices and information on VR/AR related applications in the aerospace industry as well as curate industry relevant case studies. Furthermore, the committee will, as necessary, shape and recommend best practices for the scaling of VR/AR applications across aerospace. 

This report we hope will be an ongoing discussion on the wide-ranging applications of these emerging technologies in the broader Aerospace framework. These case studies are intended to assist in understanding the challenges faced by these companies, the impact of adopting these technologies as solutions, and the recommended best practices for VR, AR applications in the aerospace industry. 

CASE STUDIES include:

1. How Siemens Digitalized Maintenance Training for its Global Workforce

2. How the Chilean Air Force Developed A Virtual Maintenance Training Solution for their Fleet of Bell 412 Helicopters

3. The Value of AR/MR Training Devices to Primary Flight Training

4. The Use of Immersive Technologies in Aviation Training (International Air Transport Association) 

5. Others

For more info or if interested to sponsor, email info@thevrara.com

Susan Spark of Schlumberger appointed as Co-Chair of VRARA Energy Committee

Email info@thevrara.com if you’re interested in participating

The Energy Committee of the VR/AR Association serves as a resource to promote the application of VR/AR technology in confronting the challenges posed by the energy transition. The committee will enable the sharing of best practices and information on VR/AR related applications in the energy industry as well as curate industry relevant case studies. Furthermore, the committee will, as necessary, shape and recommend best practices for the scaling of VR/AR applications across the energy industry.

I believe we are at a critical juncture for immersive technologies. The value and potential of these is tremendous, particularly for a high consequence industry such as energy. Use cases stretch from product and service design, manufacturing, marketing, training to operations support. Despite the potential, wide enterprise implementation is often still a challenge due to a number of reasons.

Opportunities will continue to expand exponentially, as AI, haptics and other technologies become interconnected with advances in Virtual and Augmented Reality technology. As an industry committee, I look forward to working together to establish best practices and gain momentum for wider adoption of VR/AR within and across industries and applications.

Susan Spark

Goals of the Committee include:

• Simulation and human capability development equivalency considerations

• Performance support applications in manufacturing, field services, and other areas

• Virtual remote collaboration platforms

Susan Spark is the Learning Technology Manager at Schlumberger. Along with her exceptional team, she is focused on bringing L&D into the fold of the corporate strategy toward digital platforms, big data, and innovative technologies. Susan is responsible for the development of emerging learning technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, as well as implementation of a modern, adaptable, learning ecosystem. She effectively integrates over 15 years of Schlumberger experience across diverse roles in data management, recruiting, HR compliance, and training center management.