iQ3Connect was honored to participate in the MIT London Symposium on ‘Value, Values and Platforms for the Future’ which took place at BT’s One Braham HQ last month. This was the third in a series of events including the MIT Vienna Symposium and the Lloyds Sustainaverse Workshop focused on the impact of emerging technologies in shaping larger world issues that include sustainability, ESG, economic values, and social values. The MIT London Symposium featured industry leaders and government officials, including BT clients and stakeholders, in addition to founders and CEOs of 7 selected startups for a transatlantic innovation showcase, with the stated goal to provide actionable insights to all participants.
Many industry and government participants identified sustainable workforce training, skilled worker retention, and knowledge transfer as some of the most pressing challenges they are facing. Alongside several other emerging technologies, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) were of keen interest, and at times met with a bit of skepticism due to prior poor experiences.
One of the primary hurdles hindering progress in VR and AR (collectively XR) have been the time and cost associated with building and deploying virtual 3D training and collaboration applications, limiting the realization of business and sustainability benefits when virtualizing training operations. Consequently, these benefits have remained limited to a niche set of use cases, particularly in complex industrial contexts that often require expert users and developers for support. The opportunity to solve these problems at a larger scale requires an entirely new modality/platform for virtual training and collaboration.
iQ3Connect had the opportunity to present our approach of tackling this scalability challenge with several innovative technologies and approaches focused on making immersive 3D training and collaboration easy and accessible to regular users just like any productivity tool. These key technologies enable XR experiences to integrate seamlessly into everyday work, empowering manufacturing companies to bridge the skills gap, reduce turnover rates, and cultivate a highly skilled workforce.
Our web-based platform provides simple, global access to iQ3Connect without any need to install software or other applications, enabling anyone, at any time, from anywhere to easily join a virtual training session. Our XR collaborative workspaces can be accessed instantly from any AR, VR, PC, or mobile device, eliminating the need for end-users to have access to specific hardware. Finally, our browser-based Training and Experience Creator makes authoring XR training as easy as creating a slide deck, by providing an intuitive set of no-code tools that empower subject matter experts (or anyone else) to build virtual training modules.
In summary, the combination of virtual training modules, device agnostic workspaces, and global deployment capabilities makes iQ3Connect a valuable tool for the manufacturing industry, enabling companies to thrive in an evolving landscape and drive success in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
