What has been your business/work highlight of 2024 so far?

This year a project that’s been a long time in the making came to a successful end. For the first time, a VR headset worked flawlessly in microgravity, on the International Space Station. The technical accomplishment was fantastic but what made it all worthwhile was hearing the words of ESA Astronaut, Andreas Mogensen, who had been using the VIVE Focus 3. He said how much of a positive difference it made to the gruelling day-to-day of his mission, especially as he got to experience nature scenes from his native Denmark.

Who is your business hero and why?

I am very lucky to be surrounded by amazing individuals, colleagues, business partners and competitors. My business heroes are all the XR entrepreneurs, those who have a clear vision for a better world thanks to immersive technologies, those who dedicate absolutely everything they got to make it work and push the limits of what is believed to be possible, across all industries. Not only do I have immense respect for what they do but I also want to thank them all for constantly pushing the technology forward with new exciting use cases.

What’s the biggest business mistake you’ve made and what did you learn from it?

Coming from the B2C world, I made the mistake to believe that B2B was not for me. When we decided to build out our Enterprise Solutions a few years back, I was not sold at first. In the early days there was a sentiment in the industry that B2C would drive innovation.

But I did embrace the change, learnt the ropes and quickly started to realize how I truly enjoy working with business clients. There’s so much more diversity in B2B innovation, making a demonstrable difference for end users.

Fast forward to 2024, there is not one industry that is not seriously considering XR as a strong pillar of their digital transformation. Today I am very lucky to interact with a broad variety of profiles from firefighters, teachers, events directors, cars designers, miners, truck drivers, EHS managers, you name it… and get the double satisfaction of learning new things every day and contributing to their business successes, in the true spirit of the partnerships we have in place.

What’s the most inspirational book you’ve ever read and why?

“Start with why” – Simon Sinek. It made me realize that people don’t buy or subscribe to what you do, but why you do it, and it all comes down to the actual purpose of things and actions. Sinek’s theory of the Golden Circle has become my way of thinking, acting and communicating with passion since the day I read his book, which I find extremely powerful!

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role in 2024?

I think the challenge is the same – how to we convey the benefits of XR? In the industry, *we* all know how amazing it is to see that manufacturing processes designed and tested in XR can save costs and resources, or that surgeons can practice the most delicate procedures over and over, using 3D scans of their actual patient.

But the mainstream audience, they’re too easily drawn to clout chasing viral moments, like “walking a robot dog while wearing an XR headset.” Things like that do a disservice to the wider XR industry, where you’ve got incredible talent at every level, from design and coding, through to pushing the limits of hardware.

What technology will have the greatest impact on your business this year and why?

I moved from Australia to France last year, and I still run parts of our business there. Which means I’m on a lot of video calls. But there’s always a feeling of distance, video calls make you feel almost insulated from connecting with people, because you can’t even make eye contact. I’ve genuinely been using spatial platforms like VIVERSE for Business, and that’s really helped to have a sense of presence.

And on a personal level, the most important technology has been winter coats and gear! My young kids had never seen snow before, but have been able to adapt their surfing skills to skiing in Europe.