SketchAR’s Steps to Foster the XR Industry As Part of the European Commission Roundtable

In early March, SketchAR’s CEO and founder Andrey Drobitko took part in a closed-door European Commission roundtable on the development of Europe’s digital economy for the next decade where immersive technologies have been identified as one of the core elements.

By 2030, VR and AR have the potential to add about 1.3 trillion euros to the global economy, up from 39 billion euros in 2019.

While most of the big players are currently in Asia and the U.S., Europe also has great potential to become a market leader in this technology through R&D affordability, cultural diversity, skilled workforce, high-precision and niche manufacturing.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the recently published Communication on Europe’s Media in the Digital Decade. Part of this Communication is a dedicated action to launch a VR/AR Coalition (by the end of 2021) to stimulate cooperation across industry sectors and ensure European leadership. There are also plans to set up a VR Media Lab to support creative cooperation on projects for new ways of storytelling and interacting, through AR and VR.

In the course of the discussion, the roundtable participants raised the principles upon which to build the ecosystem, ethical aspects, the diversity of solutions and their integration now and in the future, community formation, investment, research activities, and several other issues.

According to Andrey Drobitko, at this juncture, it’s crucial to develop an initiative on including a separate subject related to immersive technologies in European schools. Children will inevitably have to deal with them in the near term. Plus, AR/VR tools enable educators to better prepare the next generation for the unique demands of a 21st-century world by stimulating critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity in the classroom. Of course, there are a number of aspects to consider before using immersive technologies with children and youth (special affordances of the technologies, content in the environment, models of social interaction, developmental stage of the child).

The education sector is one of the top industries for AR and VR investments.

The SketchAR team are trying to do their best every day to make XR’s potential anything more than merely words on paper.

Thus, early this year we have pledged free licenses to educational institutions around the world for developing children’s creativity with SketchAR’s unique interactive approach of AR drawing, AI photo and video editing, and even creative mini-games. Visual art educators and their students have the opportunity to get all the features of our app for free. We’re currently working with some schools from the U.S., Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

SketchAR is one of the first apps where the digital layer helps a person in the real world. The interface of any augmented reality gives the ability to navigate and manipulate the environment. In the virtual world, you can do more. Herein lies the nub of the new way in which people interact with space.

Download the SketchAR app for free and unlock new possibilities.