Immersive VR Education have recently won their fifth International award for their educational experience, Apollo 11 VR. The Waterford-based company have taken out Best Educational Experience at the Proto Awards held in Hollywood over the weekend, after being nominated for five awards. It was an exceptionally proud moment, as both their Apollo 11 VR and Engage platform experiences were nominated in the same category.
Previously the team have won four major International awards: Best Film/Interactive Story at the Unity Vision Awards in Hollywood, the Time Warner – Future of Storytelling Award in New York, Best VR Movie at the VR Festival in Las Vegas, and the Public Choice Award at the FIVARS conference in Toronto Canada. Their CEO, David Whelan, was on hand to accept the award after traveling from the Oculus Connect developer conference in San Jose, CA. He was a guest panelist during the Education and VR talk, where he discussed the industry and showcased the newly-released Engage platform.
As well as representing Ireland in the US, Whelan has attended events in both China and South Korea earlier this year. In June he was invited to speak about virtual reality in education at the Shanghai VR Gathering, where he met industry leaders, developers, designers and artists before joining the VR Summit of Shanghai International Film Festival. He was also an invited speaker at the International e-Learning conference Korea in September, which was hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Ministry of Education (MOE).
The company has also recently been nominated for 3 Unity Awards, with the winners to be announced at Unity 2016 Los Angeles on 1st November. Apollo 11 VR has been named a finalist for Best Non-Game Project, Best VR Experience, and The Golden Cube award. These awards are granted by the gaming community, with Unity account holders able to cast their votes. https://unity3d.com/awards/2016
As well as representing Ireland in the US, Whelan has attended events in both China and South Korea earlier this year. In June he was invited to speak about virtual reality in education at the Shanghai VR Gathering, where he met industry leaders, developers, designers and artists before joining the VR Summit of Shanghai International Film Festival. He was also an invited speaker at the International e-Learning conference Korea in September, which was hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Ministry of Education (MOE).
The company has also recently been nominated for 3 Unity Awards, with the winners to be announced at Unity 2016 Los Angeles on 1st November. Apollo 11 VR has been named a finalist for Best Non-Game Project, Best VR Experience, and The Golden Cube award. These awards are granted by the gaming community, with Unity account holders able to cast their votes. https://unity3d.com/awards/2016
Since opening their doors in October 2014, Immersive VR Education Ltd, have moved in leaps and bounds. The last 12 months have been especially productive, after releasing a number of educational experiences including a medical training simulator created in conjunction with the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.
Their other projects Apollo 11 VR and Engage offer completely different educational experiences. Apollo 11 VR gives users the ability to witness the moon landing first-hand, from the view point of Neil Armstrong; and the Engage platform allows teachers to deliver lectures to students in a VR environment. They are planning their next title, Titanic VR, for a mid-2017 release, and will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for the project in the coming weeks.
As their recognition is growing so is their work-base, with the team expanding from 4 to 12 employees within a year. And they are still expanding, with positions for Senior Game Developer (Programmer), Senior Web Developer, and Texture Artist/Modeler being advertised on their website. http://immersivevreducation.com/were-hiring/
Through their short time in business, they have managed to tap into a solid community network in the US and across Europe and Asia. They have accessed the International market through attending conferences and a successful Kickstarter campaign for Apollo 11 VR, where a large portion of their backers were from the US and Europe. Their vision for the future is to have Waterford known as the VR hub in Ireland and throughout Europe. This is an achievable goal, with Ireland already having a strong technology presence with Google and Apple setting up bases in the country. And the fact they are winning awards alongside Wevr, Google and Valve cements their place in the VR and education industries.
You can learn more about Immersive VR Education’s projects on their website. http://immersivevreducation.com/
