With the Virtual Reality boom we’re seeing more courses popping up to train people hoping to get a job in the industry, but is it worth it? 

Recently, Google, Apple and IBM became the latest companies to join a trend of no longer requiring a university degree from prospective candidates.

This is pretty huge. After all we’re talking companies that receive thousands of CVs every day, and they can afford to be very picky. So it’s not a matter of cutting corners in order to fill vacancies, but a recognition that the way in which we’re acquiring, maintaining and developing our skills has dramatically changed.

There is no greater spark to creativity than rallying a diverse group of intelligent people around an exciting new medium
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Photos by Ana Escobar

Having invested many years of my life in both undergraduate and graduate education, I find myself conflicted about it. I would not have done without the experiences and knowledge that going to university afforded me, but I always worked alongside my studies, so it’s often hard to unpick how the skillsets and knowledge base I have today came to be formed exactly. And that is only going to become even more difficult for future generations as online and virtual learning, self-directed and lifelong, becomes the norm.

Which is why it’s somewhat ironic to see more and more universities offering VR degrees to teach future generations how to build those very same virtual learning environments. One recent one I came across is the MA Virtual Reality from London College of Communication, UAL which claims to be one of the first of its kind in Europe. They’re set to follow up with a BA (Hons) Virtual Reality next year

The features offered include dedicated Virtual Reality classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software to enable students to bring their projects to life by filming, sculpting, and animating in VR
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Those professionals might build virtual environments to facilitate creative interactions without the need for anybody to physically attend university
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The features offered include dedicated Virtual Reality classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software to enable students to bring their projects to life by filming, sculpting, and animating in VR. And while it could be argued that the cost of buying a Rift or VIVE headset is significantly lower than that of a degree, the added facilities such as motion capture suits, infinity cove green screen, and software licenses does add up to a more attractive-sounding package.

However, the focus of this degree is quite rightly on developing creative and storytelling skills. This is very much what is needed in the realm of VR content production – engaging, emotionally compelling experiences – and this is arguably where the university model still has a very relevant role to play.

The focus of this VR degree is quite rightly on developing creative and storytelling skills
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In my case, for example, I’ve always been quite effective at directing and managing my own learning, but found that during the course of my MA at Warwick University the project work and the relationships I built with my colleagues and tutors helped to spark ideas that I would not have had if my interaction had been limited to absorbing information via books or a computer screen.

There is no greater spark to creativity, it turns out, than bringing a very diverse group of intelligent people together and rallying them around an exciting new medium. If universities can provide that , they might very well graduate some amazing VR professionals in the next few years. The irony is then that those professionals might very well build such amazing virtual environments and experiences as to facilitate that sort of interaction without the need for anybody to physically attend university. Enter the world of Ready Player One.

This article originally appeared in The Next Web

Should you study VR at university? https://t.co/DjYoxkggxh

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) August 23, 2018

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedInand follow @alicebonasioon Twitter.

The post Going to Virtual Reality University appeared first on Tech Trends.

Researchers from music and engineering teams are working together to turn big data into sound.

A collaboration between two professors – one of music and one of engineering – at Virginia Tech resulted in the creation of a new platform for data analysis that makes it possible to understand data better by turning it into sound.

A collaboration between music and engineering professors at Virginia Tech resulted in the creation of a new platform for data analysis
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This is a pioneering approach to studying spatially distributed data. Instead of placing information into a visual context to show patterns or correlations – meaning, data visualization – the work will use an aural environment to leverage the natural affordances of the space and the user’s location within the sound field.

This is a pioneering approach to studying spatially distributed data
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The earth’s hemisphere is rendered as a half-dome (denoted in red) inside the Cube using immersive spatial sound. Each of the dome’s rectangular areas are assigned to one speaker that varies its loudness, pitch, timbre, and pulse rate to reflect changes in the atmospheric data

The work combines elements of music, geospatial science, computer science, and human-computer interaction
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Funded by the National Science Foundation, the work combines elements of music, geospatial science, computer science, and human-computer interaction. It’s the first time a research project led by a faculty member from the university’s School of Performing Arts working in collaboration with the College of Engineering

Instead of placing information into a visual context to show patterns or correlations – meaning, data visualization – the work uses an aural environment to leverage the natural affordances of the space
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Ivica Ico Bukvic, associate professor of composition and multimedia in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and Greg Earle, professor of electrical and computer engineering, used infrastructure at the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology to investigate how immersive sound can be used to develop our understanding of complex systems.

Combining performance space, research laboratory, and studio, the Cube is a collaborative research facility at Virginia Tech where researchers, composers, and musicians are uncovering possibilities in immersive sound
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According to Bukvic, data sonification – which involves converting non-auditory information into sound, is a relatively unexplored area of research, yet provides a unique perspective for exploring data. The human auditory system has a superior ability to recognize temporal changes and patterns, making sonification a powerful tool for studying complex systems.

“Identifying new time and space correlations between variables often leads to breakthroughs in the physical sciences,” explained Dr. Bukvic, who also serves as a senior fellow for the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. “It makes sense that we would want to go beyond two-dimensional graphical models of information and make new discoveries using senses other than our eyes.

Titled “Spatial Audio Data Immersive Experience (SADIE),” the project is the first large-scale endeavor focusing on immersive spatially-aware sonified data using a high-density loudspeaker array. The research will focus on the earth’s upper atmospheric system, which features physical variables that are spatially and temporally rich. Each of the data sets associated with this system will be represented by distinct sound properties, such as amplitude, pitch, and volume.

The human auditory system has a superior ability to recognize temporal changes and patterns, making sonification a powerful tool for studying complex systems
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These sounds will be played through a 129-loudspeaker spatially distributed immersive sound system in the Cube, located in the Moss Arts Center. A combination of performance space, research laboratory, and studio, the Cube is a collaborative research facility at Virginia Tech where researchers, composers, and musicians are uncovering new possibilities in immersive sound.

Using the Cube’s motion capture system, similar to the interface imagined for the film Minority Report, participants will be able to navigate the sonified data using a gesture-driven interface
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Using the Cube’s motion capture system, similar to the interface imagined for the film Minority Report, participants will be able to navigate the sonified data using a gesture-driven interface, allowing them to rewind, fast-forward, rotate, zoom, amplify, speed up, and slow down the data playback. The system will also be used to capture user study data.

“Allowing the brain’s innate signal processing mechanisms to identify specific features in complex data sets is a logical way to link computational sciences with human sensory perceptions. This merging of technology and nature could further current analysis techniques and foster new breakthroughs involving complex systems in science, with the potential to produce new technologies designed to spur creativity,” concludes Dr. Bukvic, who says that if this approach to experiencing data can be proven to improve people’s understanding of complex relationships in physical systems, it could be applied to other fields of study: “It could have applications to fields such as thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and aeronautical engineering; help advance visualizations and virtual reality systems; and create interdisciplinary bridges between scientific communities, including music, computing, and the physical sciences.”

This article was originally published on The Next Web

Turning big data into sound https://t.co/7WhHBxASzH

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) February 18, 2018

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post The Sound of Big Data appeared first on Tech Trends.

Teradata’s Art of Analytics project is helping people make an emotional connection with the datasets that rule their world.

In her day-to-day work, Yasmeen Ahmad tackles immensely complex datasets, deploying an arsenal of approaches and methodologies that would sound intimidating to most lay people.

Not many people are able to make sense from complex datasets
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From predictive modelling to text analytics, time series analysis to development of attribution strategies, few people can easily wrap their heads around what such terms mean, and even fewer are capable of drawing actionable insights from them – which is why data scientists such as herself are always in such high demand.

Ahmad worked in the life sciences industry before pivoting to commercial work, where she is now Director of Think Big Analytics, the consulting branch of IT service management company Teradata.

Visualisation is a core component of any data science and analytical project
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The best way help people see the meaning of datasets is to paint them a picture
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Over many years helping clients across a variety of industries to make sense of their data, however, she realised that the best way help them see meaning in those datasets was to literally paint them a picture.

“Visualisation is a core component of any data science and analytical project,” she explains. “It is almost always used at the beginning to understand the datasets you are working with, and can help to quickly identify anomalies, outliers and strong correlations in the data.”

As far as data is concerned, she says, a picture really is worth a thousand words, as visualisation helps to add meaning on top of data that is much easier to assimilate for humans than descriptive words or single numbers and values alone.

Visualisation helps to add meaning on top of data that is much easier to assimilate
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The visualisations supported storytelling around a project
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Her team would therefore routinely include such visuals when they presented their key results to clients, and found that even people who might not be well versed in data science or technology could still connect with them. The visualisations supported storytelling around a project, engaging business stakeholders to understand connections, relationships and associations in the data.

“As more investment goes into data platforms and analytical technologies, the artwork helps to provide a face to this investment. We had business leaders commenting on how beautiful the visualisations were. Colour, shape and layout were all dimensions that were used to convey meaning. The choice of how a visualisation was formed is actually a creative process – like creating a piece of art.”

From there, she explains, it was a short leap to the idea behind the Art of Analytics project, which brings together a range of those visualisation pieces from their previous projects.

Art of Analytics brings together a range of visualisation from previous projects.
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Ahmad believes one of the main strengths of the project is its ability to bring data to life for lay audiences, creating a connection between data insights and observers and bridging the technical gap.

“The visualisations push the human to look beyond individual numbers and values, to thinking about data as a series of connections to be explored. They make it particularly easy to see associations, connections, pathways etc. The art is providing form to the complex fields of big data and data science – making them accessible to a wider audience.

Visualisations push the human to think about data as a series of connections to be explored
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Yet the usefulness of data visualisation is not limited to non-technical people. According to Ahmad, it is also a key component of a data scientist’s toolkit:

“During my life sciences research – I was working in a field where everything was abstracted. The data I analysed often came from human cell samples that could only be seen under microscopes. Hence, collecting data about these samples, analysing it to create insight and then relating the insight back to reality was somewhat difficult. Visualisation was key to help portray not only the insights, but also how they linked to human cells and biology in general.”

Art of Analytics was also an opportunity for Ahmad to bring together those creative and scientific sides. Data science, she says, is actually a highly creative discipline that combines technical know-how with lateral thinking and the ability to tease out stories from complex datasets.

Art and science need to come together to solve the world’s most complex problems
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Data science is actually a highly creative discipline
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“I believe that art and science need to come together to help to solve the world’s most complex problems, and the best data scientists are not only great at statistics, maths and analytical subjects, but are also creative problem solvers who can translate their work into meaningful messaging that connects with their business and commercial audiences.”

This is an on-going project, and there are plans to create new data representations as they work with new datasets they haven’t encountered before.

The emotional connection that people establish with the work highlights the power of data
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Ahmad is also keen to explore how other media such as animation, video and perhaps even VR could help add other dimensions to that work. By creating a video, she says, it would be possible to create another level of emotional connection with audiences, by representing how those relationships have evolved over time.

“We have had senior executives request copies of the Art of Analytics to hang in their office. The emotional connection that people can establish with the work highlights the power of data.”

This article was originally published on The Next Web

Art exhibit shows off the beauty of data https://t.co/Mq8uOvFCGH

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) November 20, 2017

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Big Data is Beautiful appeared first on Tech Trends.

In this article for The Next Web I talk to entrepreneurs in London about how the aftermath of Brexit will affect them and their businesses.

Academia, like the technology sector, is heavily dependent on EU funding, and the free movement of talent is regarded as having a positive impact on scientific collaboration
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It might feel like centuries since Britain voted to leave the European Union, yet it really wasn’t that long ago that I was at London Technology Week, talking to entrepreneurs about how this could affect them, and the tech sector in general. Back then it was mostly speculation, since nobody I spoke to really believed it would go through. How wrong we were!

On the day of the vote I attended an event sponsored by Open Access publishers Hindawi exploring how academia, institutions and technology companies could innovate together, and the climate had been more optimistic. Everyone I spoke to had voted ‘remain’ before coming along and there was a general feeling that although the result might be close, the country would stay within the EU.

One of the things that makes London such an attractive place for technology startups is its position as a gateway to the European market
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Academia, like the technology sector, is heavily dependent on EU funding, and the free movement of talent is regarded as having a positive impact on scientific collaboration. More than that, however, even the often-maligned Brussels policy machine is responsible for pushing through important initiatives, such as the recent mandate that stipulates that any research owing its existence to public funding must be made freely accessible and reusable by 2020.

At another meet-up hosted at the UCL’s Institute for Global Prosperity, the speaker – on a video link from Barcelona – spoke to a room full of European citizens about how her ground-breaking citizen science project could help to tackle the growing air pollution crisis in our cities; this was also funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 program.

Once you start paying attention, it’s easy to see how EU money and influence pops up everywhere, and that’s the scary thing
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Once you start paying attention, it’s easy to see how EU money and influence pops up everywhere, and that’s the scary thing. One of the things that makes London such an attractive place for technology startups is its position as a gateway to the European market.

I spoke to some companies at LTW who were taking part in an accelerator setup by the UK Lebanon Tech Hub – a joint initiative between Lebanon’s Central Bank and the UK government – and most agreed that this had been a factor in their decision to base their companies in London. “We’re now a registered UK company, and we’re looking to open an office in London and start hiring” says Lebanese entrepreneur Fadi Sabbagha, Founder and CEO of BornInteractive.

Speaking just after the Brexit results had emerged, he told me that his immediate plans were not affected, but that access to European markets was also crucial for his company.

We’re launching EasyCat, a platform where you can create and share catalogs electronically, and the events market – which is particularly large in Europe – is an important part of that for us.

Lamice Hourani, who also received support from the UKLTH to launch her company Parentville told me that her product – an app that connects urban parents with local family-friendly activities – would probably not be affected in the short-term, but was concerned about future repercussions as they continue to grow:

We’re a neighborhood-based business and at the moment we’re focused on the UK market, so I don’t foresee any immediate impact. That being said, a good part of our customers are expats, and also hiring talent might become more difficult, as we do benefit at the moment from being able to tap into the EU market in recruiting for specific roles.

Recruitment is indeed a key issue, as any tech entrepreneur will tell you. In the dog-eat- dog ecosystem of high growth that most startups operate in, bringing the right talent on board – quickly – can make or break an idea.

Haitham Saab, Director of Techgenies, built their entire proposition around this, providing a platform which allows companies to hire talent based anywhere in the world on a project basis, and save up to 50 percent compared to hiring locally in a high-demand market such as London or Silicon Valley.

While physically we might be able to restrict the free movement of people, intangible products and services will continue to flow, and the economy that they create and sustain will remain borderless
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Since so many of us work from home these days, and a lot of startups don’t even have an office any more, it makes sense that you should not be limited by geography when sourcing the skills your business needs to grow. We live in a globalized society, which is what makes the key arguments of the Brexit campaign so baffling to many, as they seem predicated in a reality that no longer really applies.

While physically we might be able to restrict the free movement of people, intangible products and services will continue to flow, and the economy that they create and sustain will remain borderless.

In tech jargon, ‘exit’ can be a good thing. It often means that your company has been acquired, and that is the goal for many startups. The exit of the UK from the European Union, however, doesn’t seem to bring many positive connotations for the entrepreneurial community so far.

Richard Branson, who had previously warned that Brexit would be the “worst decision Britain could make” now says investors are pulling out of the UK following the vote. His own company, Virgin, has reportedly lost a third of its value and cancelled a contract worth over 3,000 jobs in the immediate aftermath of the referendum.

TechCrunch Editor At Large Mike Butcher was also dismayed at the result, tweeting the day after the referendum that he had been told that at least three UK startups had lost deals with EU-based investors because funding was conditional on Remain to win. Since then many entrepreneurs have been sharing similar woeful experiences on Butcher’s Facebook page.

In tech jargon, exit can be a good thing, but leaving the European Union doesn’t have any upsides for the entrepreneurial community
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This doesn’t of course spell the inevitable doom of the technology sector in the UK. London’s Tech City will likely continue to be a driver of growth and jobs for the country and a major player in the global digital economy. But it is also a fact that membership of the EU offered businesses and investors many concrete advantages, and it is entirely unclear if, and how, those factors will change as the country struggles with the uncertainty triggered by Brexit.

However, the severe devaluation of the pound does mean some are getting better value for money. I spoke to one entrepreneur, for example, who told me that an India-based investor had offered to increase the amount of investment offered to her, as it was such a good time to buy sterling.

Take your silver linings whenever you can find them…

How Brexit is impacting UK startups https://t.co/ZRU2oZfeA3 pic.twitter.com/HiUeR9IvxV

— The Next Web (@TheNextWeb) July 13, 2016

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post What does Brexit Mean for Tech and Innovation? appeared first on Tech Trends.

Professor Frances Arnold from Caltech was the winner of the prestigious Millennium Technology Prize awarded by Technology Academy Finland.

At the ceremony in Helsinki I was struck by how the evolutionary approach she pioneered has momentous and far-reaching applications not only in biology and chemistry, but in all areas of research.

“Uncountable organisms are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to exploit new opportunities and overcome challenges that we put in their path. So the biological world is the most spectacular example of crowdsourcing and problem solving – nature’s been doing that for several billion years,” said Professor Frances Arnold as she was awarded the 2016 Millennium Technology Prize for her work in directed evolution.

The methods she invented are used to mimic the natural selection processes of nature, where random DNA mutations happen constantly as organisms adapt to environmental factors. Through those processes it is possible to generate those mutations so that ones with useful properties can be selected and engineered to fulfil specific needs.

Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö presented Professor Arnold with the award in the form of the “peak” trophy, a beautiful translucent sculpture by a local artist (the Finns are rightfully proud of their design heritage). The biannual award celebrates innovations that improve quality of life for humanity, and previous winners include World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

I’ve spent the last 30 years putting evolution into action to solve human problems such as how we might convert abundant renewable resources into the fuels, chemicals, materials, and the things we need in our daily lives.

After spending the last week in Helsinki, I can see why Professor Arnold’s vision appeals to the Finns, who constantly strive towards sustainability and have a deep connection with nature. The idea that we have much to learn from the natural world resonates deeply with the Finnish psyche.

The very best inventor and engineer of all time – and you haven’t yet awarded the prize to this – is nature
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What’s out there hasn’t been written by humans, it’s the result of four billion years of evolution. We’re just learning to hold a pencil in the grander scheme of things, working on the level of a single protein
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This isn’t only about idealism, however.

Although Frances Arnold is clearly passionate about conservation and thoroughly committed to helping reduce the harmful impact that humanity has on the environment, the applications of her technology are imminently practical and unapologetically commercial.

Her innovations are now used in hundreds of companies and laboratories around the world to overhaul costly industrial processes that use fossil materials in the production of fuels, pharmaceuticals, textiles and chemicals.

My entire careers I have been concerned about the damage we are doing to the planet and each other. Science and technology can play a major role in mitigating our negative influences on the environment. Changing behavior is even more important, however. I feel that it is easier when there are good, economically viable alternatives to harmful habits.

The way the process hinges upon iteration will also be familiar to those working in technology, as it’s the cornerstone of how start-ups in the sector innovate. If you think about it, the “fail fast, learn, adapt, repeat” process that feeds those business ecosystems is intrinsically evolutionary.

“Evolution is the true innovation machine,” says Professor Arnold, explaining that nature’s design works like a powerful algorithm that can scale from molecules to entire eco-systems. From this seemingly chaotic primordial soup come elegant solutions to every conceivable problem, from energy, water, food, environment, and medicine.

As the Jeff Goldblum line in Jurassic Park goes, “life… uh… finds a way.”

Another of the most interesting things that this award highlights is the fact that science does not happen in a vacuum and it’s important to address global issues in a holistic and interdisciplinary way.

Significantly, when Arnold first embarked in her career in the 1970s, there was no such thing as a biochemical engineer. She has since gone on to be the first woman to be elected to all three US National academies – The National Academy of Sciences, The National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

Frances Arnold's innovations are used in hundreds of companies and laboratories around the world to overhaul costly industrial processes that use fossil materials in the production of fuels and chemicals
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To girls looking to follow in her footsteps, her message is clear: If you don’t see the space where you’d like to work, go ahead and create it.

When asked whether she thought her achievement would inspire a new generation of women to pursue STEM careers, she replied “I hope so, we need all the brains we can get if we’re to solve all these problems, and this prize will highlight the fact that yes, women can do this, they can do it well, and that they can make a contribution to the world and be recognized for it.”

To girls looking to follow in her footsteps, her message is clear: If you don’t see the space where you’d like to work, go ahead and create it
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In recalling her own experience of choosing a career in science, she paid tribute to her father – nuclear physicist William Howard Arnold, who passed away last year – for encouraging her to become an engineer ‘so she’d always have a job.’ “He was right, I’ve always had a job, and I still have the best job,” she said.

Whenever I see a problem I feel compelled to use my creativity to solve it. Imagine if we got to the point where we could replace the chemical industry with natural processes. This prize is recognition of the fact that this is not just a dream.

Read the  article on The Next Web site

How evolution is the perfect algorithm https://t.co/1xj9dy3PaH pic.twitter.com/hSnXp2tjfc

— The Next Web (@TheNextWeb) May 31, 2016

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Evolving Science and Tech appeared first on Tech Trends.

Virtual Reality (VR) is really FUN. Go on, if you haven’t tried it yet, there’s no excuse not to at least invest a few dollars on a Google Cardboard viewer to see what all the fuss is about.

Admittedly the technology is far from perfect, but I still challenge you to hold back the giggles of delight that usually come with that initial experience. The possibilities for Virtual Reality to fundamentally transform education are also very powerful.

At The Next Web conference in New York my friend – an avid Barcelona supporter – tried out the Beyond Sports virtual reality simulation, which allowed her to literally step into the boots of her favourite footballer – Lionel Messi. Much delighted giggling (that default reaction to one’s first VR immersion) followed, and suffice to say we were impressed.

At The Next Web conference in New York my friend – an avid Barcelona supporter - tried the Beyond Sports virtual reality simulation, which allowed her to step into the boots of her favourite footballer - Lionel Messi
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So I caught up with their founder, Sander J Schouten, to find out more about how VR will be a real game changer (excuse the pun) for sports as well as education.

“We develop our simulations based on real match data, and then use tools to create a variety of customized experiences, from professional match analysis to personalised fan experiences and specially tailored training programmes, all in Virtual Reality viewable through the Oculus Rift or mobile VR.”

The sophistication of the Oculus seems a long way from Sander’s first love – an original Atari console. But it was that interest in gaming that also led him to an interest in Virtual Reality, which is why he believes that engaging children with technology in fun ways can have a really positive impact in their education.

This is where that game-changing potential of Virtual Reality really kicks in. You get all the benefits of real-world interaction, but in a controlled environment
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“There’s a really big trend towards gamification of learning, and Virtual Reality immersive environments are going to make those experiences even more powerful,” he explains.

In future he believes there will be much less separation between the “work” and “play” and learning will be a continuous process that blends into our lives, both real and virtual.

“A lot of Sports coaching is based on trying to explain tactics (just think of a coach’s old tactical magnet board in the dressing room) but showing is so much more effective than explaining, and experiencing something first-hand is that much more powerful again.”

Engaging children with technology in fun ways can have a really positive impact in their education
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This is where that game-changing potential of Virtual Reality really kicks in. You get all the benefits of real-world interaction, but in a controlled environment. This means you’re able to gather data and adapt your tactics and coaching style much more accurately, in a way targeted to each individual’s needs and abilities as well as to the particular requirements of a club, for example. It is easy to see how this is a no-brainer in sports training, but it is also the broader trend for learning in general, as Mark Zuckerberg’s investment in personalized learning clearly indicates.

Since being founded less than a year ago, Beyond Sports licenced its product to several clubs, but they’re only getting started:

“The potential for VR in sports in endless, but there’s a long way to go yet, specially around improving the visuals and implementing better AI. Our primary focus at the moment is to grow our client base in Europe, focusing first on Football clubs, broadcasters and fans. However others sports will soon follow, and we’re also looking at developing a separate product solely focused on the learning side called Beyond Education, which will be launched shortly.” Watch this space.

Tech Trends’  Virtual Reality Consultancy services offers support for companies looking to enhance brand strategy with immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post How Virtual Reality Will Shape Up Sports Coaching appeared first on Tech Trends.