XR Summit at ISE opened with some impressive forecasts of rapid growth – building to a probable value of more than $107 billion by 2025, and possibly $2 trillion by 2035, if CitiBank’s forecasts are accurate.
Marco DeMiroz, co-founder of
The VR Fund, told delegates in a packed room that despite the buoyant forecasts, the industry was still in its infancy. His own fund has $50 million under management, spread over 21 companies, of which only two were in Europe (both in Finland).
“This is going to be a massive industry, but we need more venture capital investment cash to come from Europe, for Europe. We have talented ideas coming from here in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Paris as well as London.”
DeMiroz said that in the US some $1.28 billon in investment value had been committed, but in Europe the sum was much smaller (at some $380 million).
DeMiroz explained how rapidly growth has occurred, helped by headset sales (“prices slashed across the board”) and how emerging devices are capable of being totally immersive for the user but also completely capable of AR. “Simply look at the number of active participants, at every level of the industry, from Amazon and Alibaba to Walmart, and then to Hollywood, and Theme Park adoption.
“Yes, there are platform wars, but these will be solved. What’s important is that these creatives are in the business for the long haul.”
He continued: “But also remember that XR is still evolving, and that new applications include in-house business training where all the results show that users retain significant benefits from using VR and AR, and in medical and education as well as the higher-profile news, media and entertainment as well as games.”
