Vivatech, a global meetup for start-ups and leaders to show off their latest tech innovations, was bigger than ever in 2018 with over 100,000 visitors from 125 countries. Held in Paris, the event was attended by 9000 start-ups and CEOs from the many of the largest tech companies in the world. This year VR was in the spotlight, with 20+ companies demonstrating how they are using Vive and Vive Pro to transform their businesses.
BNP Paribas Real Estate, a leading provider of financial solutions for corporations and institutions demoed their VR experience which takes users from a branch in Hong Kong to a London apartment with one of the bank’s real estate agents. From there, viewers can look around the apartment, explore the neighbourhood surrounding the property and even find the closest schools and shops. The experience was designed by the start-up and holoporation specialists, Mimesys to enable BNP Paribas Real Estate’s brokers to sell premium properties to customers located anywhere in the world, bringing a 1-1 sales experience to their customers without the need to travel.
At the LVMH Group booth, Hennessy, the world-famous cognac brand, was showing a complete VR digital twin of Hennessy’s latest factory. The VR experience allows viewers to walk through the 26,000-square-meter factory exploring the flow and processes, including being able to hear the noise of the bottles moving through the product line. This digital twin allowed Hennessy to accelerate the installation of the factory and train both internal employees and external partners. The VR digital twin was created by ITECA, a start-up focused on industry 4.0 challenges.
At the Airbus BizLab booth, VRNAM a tech start up who specialise in the newest methods of flight training, presented a VR replica of an Airbus A320 cockpit, used to train pilots. The experience uses Vive Pro to create a realistic training environment to accurately simulate displays and movement. A320 captain and CEO of VRNAM, Shane Caroll, is currently developing a VR simulator aimed to target official certification, which if accredited would dramatically decrease the cost of pilot training.
Immersive Factory, a start-up specialising in Health and Safety training, showcased their training application using the Vive Pro. Immersive Factory supports specialized organisations including Air Liquide, Colas – Bouygues Group and Vinci Group, to reduce risk and accidents in the workplace through immersive VR training. Olivier Pierre, COO and Co-Founder of Immersive Factory commented, “the resolution of Vive Pro is unbeatable, it helps us create immersive environments needed in order to make our simulations very realistic”.
