World of VR
Foraying into an XR-Driven World

To say that COVID-19 changed the world is undoubtedly an understatement. Over the last 12 months, countries worldwide were forced into complete lockdown. Subsequently, companies across industries had to overhaul their business strategy to operate in remote environments, and people had to learn to live in isolation. It changed the way we conduct business, attend events or meetings, communicate, socialize, and most importantly, the way we perceive life. But, on the bright side, these measures not only helped us weather the storm but provided us with the opportunity to explore new technologies to accommodate our needs. Though nascent, innovative technologies such as Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality (VR/AR/MR) or Extended Reality (XR) took center stage during this period due to their ability to enable human interactions in a contactless yet engaging way.

Founded by Timon Vielhaber in 2015, World of VR is at the forefront of this emerging market, bringing all the XR technologies together in easy-access platforms for business environments. The company also designs, develops, and delivers tailor-made solutions for advertisement, training, and education.

“We offer individually crafted solutions in the XR space. On top of that, we created standardized solutions for easy and low-cost entry, such as Possibl and InnoClass. Since inception, we have successfully designed, developed, and delivered AR/VR solutions at scale with an enterprise-grade full-service model (Plan, Build, Run) to more than 100 renowned organizations,” says Vielhaber.

The idea behind World of VR was simple yet powerful—to evolve humanity virtually. The day Vielhaber witnessed the power of the crowd-funded Oculus DK1 VR glasses, it suddenly dawned on him that this technology could truly transform several aspects of work and life. And not only did it have the potential, but also the duty to initiate this transformation. He mused, “As humans, we need to be consuming fewer resources and increase input-to-output by an order of magnitude that logistics optimizations alone cannot provide. If all of humanity wants to live peacefully and in good health, then we must find a new way.” In the days to come, he turned his thoughts into reality by introducing World of VR. This company was his way to get the world to hop onto the “virtual bandwagon,” which entails virtual economies, virtual parts of life, virtual traveling, virtual meetings, and virtual value chains.

Today, World of VR is one of the few players to successfully roll out AR/VR solutions at scale, spanning thousands of devices (hundreds of thousands including VR cardboards). The Possibl app offers standardized pre-made professional VR training modules within a single platform.

Employees can use this interactive learning interface to connect in a scalable and straightforward manner. World of VR has also enabled an engaging teaching-learning experience with InnoClassAR App by bringing classic learning materials to life.

This solution provides current cutting-edge topics from which students can receive real-world knowledge of dealing with everyday life situations and reproduce complex facts themselves. Using just a tablet, teachers and students can avail of a plethora of explorative 3D learning modules coupled with the multi-user classroom experience to enable everyone to be on the same page. The company is also a pioneer in the XR tech stack, from VR to AR to MR to 360.

Apart from these offerings, the company offers VR collaborative training; especially technical training that helps clients perform soft skills without real-life objects. It also enables them to showcase products inside 3D showrooms (VR or Web) and conduct group tours when required. Virtufair further delivers a full-fledged solution for visual digital trade fairs, including several booths to discover, which are depicted by avatars, both in the web or full-on VR mode. World of VR effectively meets the demand of marketing departments and advertisement agencies by providing new ways to their end-consumers to explore various products from their homes. The company’s WebAR solution can be easily integrated within online shopping or website frameworks to enhance the product experience on mobile devices. Furthermore, its ARtApp allows artists to have their own app to display their permanent showcases for global customers.

To better elaborate on the company’s value proposition, Vielhaber highlights their collaboration with one of Germany’s largest energy service providers, RheinEnergie. As is known, working with high voltage energy is always dangerous, and despite many technical safety measures and fail-safes, accidents are prone to happen.

In this case, someone got into an accident caused by the accumulation of minor mistakes and oversight regarding safety rules. World of VR rectified this situation with safety training that focused on working in dangerous environments while also making it easily accessible and exciting enough for both young trainees and seasoned experts alike. This initiative was received very well and has become an integral part of their introductory and annual training. “We have a unique way of working, thanks to our purpose-driven Holacracy approach resulting in complete honesty, accountability, and initiative – that is why clients love to work with us in teams at eye level,” states Jens Epe, the Co-founder and Creative Technology Officer at World of VR.

Furthermore, World of VR has seen similar successes among other industry verticals, including over 1000+ opticians using its VR point-of-sale tool to simulate varifocal glasses. The company has also conducted thousands of VR coaching sessions in 2020 to many employees of Deutsche Telekom. Its VR medical stimulator proved to be effective for diagnosing patients’ reaction time, but it wasn’t used as expected. In response to this, World of VR did a part overhaul and made the solutions ready to use for routine diagnostics. “Our customers love us because we really care and will never stop until every goal is met and expectation exceeded,” prides Vielhaber.

Backed by a vision to change the world and unparalleled solutions, World of VR intends to grow at a sustainable rate. They envision making their offerings even more scalable and readily available. “We ensure that there are no limits to your imagination and creativity. This is exactly why each of our projects is unique – just like the passion behind it,” concludes Vielhaber.