The 10 Most Innovative ARVR Solution Providers 2019

2019 - VOL 7 - ISSUE 5

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The 10 Most

Innovative AR/VR Solution Providers 2019

EDITOR’S DESK

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merging technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are disrupting the lifestyle of the entire global community.

2019 - VOL 7 - ISSUE 5

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Virtual reality detaches people from the real environment and puts them in a whole new ‘digital’ environment which is software-generated, recreates a certain situation or environment in such manner that one can feel it like a ‘real-time’ experience.

Contrarily, Augmented reality takes reality and adds a new digital layer to it. Blending out the line between the real and the digital world and brings up the possibility to be more intensely and vividly involved.

AR/VR has many possibilities to be explored yet in various fields like medicine, science, agriculture, retail and many more. The implementation of these immersive technologies will definitely add a whole new dimension and expand horizons for professionals in these fields.

The 10 Most

Innovative AR/VR

Solution Providers 2019 The Vivid Future of AR/VR is on the Brink!

Because of its massive impact on the status quo of an organization, AR/VR technology is being adopted by a huge number of companies. These applications have been proved to be of enormous impact on the workflows and business strategies of all kinds of industries.

According to International Data Corporation, the worldwide spending on augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) has been expected to be nearly $20.4 billion in 2019, an increase of 68.8% over the $12.1 billion.

The latest update to IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide also shows that worldwide spending on AR/VR products and services will continue this strong growth

throughout the 2017-2022 forecast period, achieving a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 69.6%.

The industries that are expected to spend the most on AR/VR in 2019 include personal and consumer services ($1.6 billion), retail ($1.56 billion), and discrete manufacturing ($1.54 billion). Ten industries are forecast to deliver CAGRs of more than 100% over the five-year forecast period, including state/local government (123.7% CAGR), resource industries (120.9% CAGR), and wholesale (120.9% CAGR). Consumer spending on AR/VR will continue to be greater than any single industry ($7.2 billion in 2019) but will grow at a much slower pace (36.6% CAGR).

Looking at the above stats we can be pretty sure of the rapid growth in the realm of AR/VR in the upcoming years.

To flash the spotlight on the achievements of these admiring companies, we’re bringing this issue of “The 10 Most Innovative AR/VR Companies 2019”. We’ve enlisted some of the most innovative AR/VR solution providers which are exclusively known for their out-of-the-box solutions. Here’s a glimpse of the companies enlisted: Bolverk XR is one of the few companies who provides world-class solutions for the aviation training industry. Bolverk XR was created to win the market for VR training in sectors that combine expensive assets with mandatory recurring training.

Adding an element of fun to otherwise tedious training, while upping the quality and lowering the cost is a great idea, and right now Bolverk XR is proving highly successful in the Airline sector, providing cabin crew safety training to thousands of cabin attendants.

CleverBooks provides STEM-oriented global curriculum-based teaching and learning solutions for primary education.

Empowering Kids Learning in the acquisition of necessary for the 21st Century skills by utilizing the most innovative AR technology tools is the primary goal of the company.

Mach 3 Management is a company based near London that delivers training all over Europe and is currently reaching new markets overseas.

Optinvent is a pioneer and leader in see-through retinal display technologies. Optinvent holds 32 granted international patents on its disruptive light guide based AR display technology.

We’ve enlisted You-VR, which is a solution provider for the entertainment industry (LBE) and added multiplayer B2B solutions. Founding the entertainment brand Vonderland for international content production is the third major step of You-VR. Also, we interviewed the Dynamic CEO and President of the prestigious company Khora about its glorious and successful journey throughout. Khora is a virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) content production studio headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Khora’s core purpose is Expanding Reality through value-creating applications of Virtual and Augmented Reality.

While leafing through the pages don’t forget to have a look at the Leadership Insights: Challenges and Risks in adopting Digital Disruption and Tech Marvels: A Chronological Depiction of the AR/VR Evolution; and Editor’s Perspective: Biophilic Design: A Grandiose Architectural Trend to Enrich Workplace.

Hope this issue of the magazine will bring an enriching experience to you.

Happy Reading!

Upama Goswami

Interview with Insights Success

10 KHORA Expanding the Stunning World of AR/VR

CXO

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Articles

14 TECH MARVELS A Chronological Depiction of the AR/VR Evolution

32 LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Challenges and Risks in adopting Digital Disruption

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE Biophilic Design A Grandiose Architectural Trend to Enrich Workplace

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BOLVERK XR Airline Training in VR Makes Total Sense

CLEVERBOOKS

22 MACH 3 MANAGEMENT An Epoch-Making Approach to Corporate Training

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Rejuvenating Kids’ Learning through Augmented reality

28 OPTINVENT Disruptive Devices Reimagined for Enchanting User Experience

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YOU-VR A Worldwide VR Multiplayer Solution Provider

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Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Anish Miller Managing Editor Upama Goswami Contributing Editors Suhel, Ryan Visualiser David King Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Art & Design Assistant Asha Bange Co-designer Paul Belin Art & Picture Editor Deepanjali Jena Business Development Manager Sherin Rodricks Marketing Manager Mary D’souza Business Development Executive Kevin, Brad, Bhagyashri Sales Executives Alice, Misty, Jennifer Technical Head Jacob Smile Assistant Technical Head Pratiksha Patil Technical Consultants Amar, David, Robert Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale SME-SMO Executives Gemson, Uma Research Analyst Eric Smith Circulation Manager Tanaji sales@insightssuccess.com

July, 2019 Corporate Ofce Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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KHORA

Expanding the Stunning World of AR/VR

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ith a mission of expanding reality through value-creating applications of Virtual and Augmented Reality Khora was established in 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Combining a storefront, educational platform, and production space, Khora aims to integrate people of all ages and walks of life who share a common interest in this emerging technology. We’ve interviewed the Dynamic CEO and President of the prestigious company, Simon Lajboschitz about the glorious and successful journey throughout:

Copenhagen, Denmark. Khora’s core purpose is Expanding Reality through value-creating applications of Virtual and Augmented Reality.

Q: Brief us about your company.

In three years of activity, the team has produced over 150 VR & AR applications; organized 700 workshops for organizations that wanted to learn more about the technology; and introduced more than 25.000 people to the tech. The company serves several industries in areas of education, healthcare, art, marketing, energy, tourism, and contemporary art. The majority of these are seeking for stunning immersive visualization and simulation solutions that can help solve multiple challenges.

A: Khora is a virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) content production studio headquartered in

Khora has now become the go-to company for VR and AR in Denmark.

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Interview with Insightssuccess

Simon Lajboschitz CEO & President Khora

“With every production we are searching for value creating applications. The only way our business will grow is by creating content that solves a problem or serves a purpose”, touts Simon Lajboschitz, co-founder and CEO of Khora.

Q: Tell us something about the Founder/CEO. A: Simon Lajboschitz was in New York when he first came into contact with the medium. ‘Clouds over Sidra’ was a mini VR documentary that took him into the life of a Syrian refugee girl and made him see the engrossing and creative potential of the technology. After being 7 years in the retail industry, when he returned to Denmark, he got involved in a small VR & AR Meetup group, through which he met his partner, Peter Fisher. At the time, Peter was one of the few passionate developers consistently developing VR applications and both started to further tinker with the tech, developing the first Danish VR game for the Samsung Gear VR – Cityscape Repairman. In December 2015 they both decided to open Khora and inspire people about the multiple possibilities within immersive tech.

Q: What is the present scenario of AR/VR Solution industry?

A: Both technologies are becoming more mature both from a technical and market implementation point of view. The development of hardware, especially in the standalone VR category, has contributed to the decrease of certain entry barriers for many organizations, and we are starting to see different solutions gaining a lot of traction, especially within the Healthcare, Marketing, Training and Simulation sectors. The value proposition in these areas is quite strong and people are starting to expect to see VR and AR solutions within these industries as a standard. For example, Khora has been working with Danish museums to create more immersive experiences for the visitors. The Maritime Museum of Denmark is featuring a VR experience produced by Khora that invites visitors to explore the historic creation of the museum and visualize the transformation from dry dock to the architectural pearl that the museum has become today. One of the guests had this to say about the experience,

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“I loved it, I loved the VR thing. Because I think it helps to visualize the entire building, how it was used.

Sometimes in museums you just read a brochure, it’s a bit hard to visualize. But this really helps. To see where the ships used to dock, and what it took to build the museum.”

Q: What are the Products/services/solutions that make your company unique in the market?

A:Khora’s ability to understand the client’s need, while not focusing only on the technology, makes the client more involved in the process and secure about starting a pilot project. When the focus is set on generating value for the client, successful projects are often created that makes clients return to work on other projects. The best of example of which, is a collaboration that Khora has made with Holm Kommunikation, a Danish communication agency, where they worked together on a behavior change campaign for the Danish Safety Agency. For this campaign, the client wanted to diminish the number of injured people on New Year’s Eve due to the unsafe launch of fireworks, so Khora produced a simulation of such a dire event getting a rocket in people’s faces. As realistic the VR experience was,

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distribution was still a challenge and the message had to be delivered to as many people as possible. For this effect, a set of reaction videos were filmed, where multiple famous Danish personalities tried the experience in the headsets and the videos were displayed across multiple channels and went viral. They were viewed almost 1 million times, the campaign won two European Communication Awards and on that New Year period the number of injured people fell by 4,9%. Next year Khora and Holm Komunikation worked on a sequel to the campaign.

Q: With the introduction of newer technologies like AI, IoT, and vast improvement in wireless technologies & telecom infrastructure, what are the scopes and challenges coming with it?

A:When 5G, XR, AI and IoT become mature and massively widespread, we will be living in a world where our virtual world will be able to sense the physical world and adapt itself to it as mankind wants. The Internet will become a 3D physical space, where people will be able to step into and have any sort of experience they want. Simon calls this a ‘Blurred Reality’ state, where people will be able to shift through realities as they deem fit, no matter where they are. In this future, multiple processes within the physical world will be automated, thus making certain skilled know-how of today obsolete. “In the future, a 9 year old with a pair of XR glasses will be able to repair an engine of a car with the help of its AI assistant” touts Lajboschitz. He also recognizes that probably the biggest challenge will be educating future children the right skill set in order to be prepared for this future.

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Q: What can be expected from your company in near future?

A:The potential for the use of immersive technologies within the healthcare market is big, especially when it comes to mental health. After the successful development of a Pain Distraction tool for children together with the Pediatric Pain Knowledge Center at the General Hospital in Copenhagen, Khora is planning to transform the project into a product and scale it to multiple markets. This is the first step towards Simon’s bigger vision for the technology of spinning out new subsidiary companies focused on Virtual Reality within Healthcare. “This is a super interesting area and we believe some of these products will help thousands of patients across the world”, says Lajboschitz.

Nonetheless, these virtual explorers will keep looking for new applications for the technology in multiple markets, pushing the boundaries of the possibilities of the medium while walking towards the ‘Blurred Reality’.

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A Chronological

DEPICTION

OF THE

AR/VR EVOLUTION

The arrival of Augmented and Virtual Reality has changed our perception of technology. However, it is a lesser known fact that these concepts have been around since 1838. This was the year when Charles Wheatstone introduced his stereoscope. Below is an infographic depicting the detailed history of the evolution of Augmented and Virtual Reality. (Source: HistoryDegree. net) 14

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Tech Marvels

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1938

1935

1929

1891

1838

THE ORIGINS OF THE MARVELS (LATE 80S – EARLY 90S)

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STEREOSCOPE invented by Charles Wheatstone, allowed users to view a pair of separate images for each eye, creating a seemingly distant and larger 3D image.

KINETOSCOPE Invented by Thomas Edison and William Dickson. Sent a piece of film between a lens and a light bulb while the user peered through a peephole showing images at 46 FPS.

LINK TRAINER FLIGHT SIMULATOR

Developed by Edwin Link of the Link Piano and Organ Company

SCIENCE-FICTION: PYGMALION’S SPECTACLES

A sci-fi fiction written by Stanley G. Weinbaum A mention of pair of goggles that allows people to experience virtual senses including sight, smell, touch, and taste.

VIEW-MASTER Developed by William Gruber and Harold Graves Stereoscopic 3D photo viewer introduced at the 1939 New York World’s Fair as an update to the scenic postcard

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HEADSIGHT

Developed by Philco Corporation engineers First motion-tracking HMD that took pictures and was designed to allow remote viewing of dangerous situations by the military.

SENSORAMA AND MOTORCYCLE SIMULATOR

SWORD OF DAMOCLES

1968

SAYRE GLOVE

1977

Developed by Morton Heilig 3D-equipped booth that produced sensations to simulate real experiences, such as a vibrating seat and the smell of hot dog stalls to simulate riding a motorcycle through New York

Developed by Ivan Sutherland Primitive and heavy headset that was suspended from the ceiling, which earned in its name from the Greek myth

Created by scientists at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois, it is the first wired glove, which turned finger movement into electrical signals

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1961

Developed by Morton Heilig First ever head-mounted display (HMD)

1962

TELESPHERE MASK

1960

THE LATE 20TH CENTURY ARRIVALS

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1982 1988 1991 1992 1995 1999 18

POWER GLOVE AND DATAGLOVE

Created by Thomas G. Zimmerman and Jaron Lanier These gloves used an optical flex sensor and ultrasonic and magnetic hand position tracking technology

VIRTUAL INTERFACE ENVIRONMENT WORKSTATION (V.I.E.W) Developed by NASA in partnership with VPL Research, Inc.

VIRTUALITY GROUP ARCADE MACHINES

Developed by Dr. Jonathan D Waldern and W Industries

CAVE AUTOMATIC VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT (CAVE) First developed by Chicago Electronic Visualization Laboratory

VIRTUAL BOY

Developed by Nintendo designer Gunpei Yokoi

DEVELOPED BY NASA a hybrid synthetic vision system that integrated augmented reality in their X-38 spacecraft.

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THE TIMELINE SINCE 2000 An important advancement in the field of the augmented reality in the year 2000 is ARToolKit. This software was created and designed by Hirokazu Kato. This software enables one to capture the real-world actions and combine it with interactions of virtual objects.

2003

2009

Skycam-used by NFL, it was used for aerial views of the field to insert the virtual first down marker.

Esquire magazine used AR in the print media for the first time.

AFTERWARDS In 2013, Volkswagen used AR as their car manuals. The use of the MARTA app through the iPad can help users view the internal workings of the vehicle so the service mechanics know what they are dealing with.

In 2014, the Google Glass is revealed and has been made available for consumers.

In 2016, Microsoft introduces the next iteration of wearable augmented reality.

With the successive wave of digitization, many more promises have been unfolded in the arena of AR and VR.

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Bolverk XR

Airline Training in VR Makes Total Sense

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ith the successive wave of latest technology trends, aviation industry has been benefitted in a massive way. AR/VR is bringing immense possibilities to the aviation arena, enhancing passenger experience with in-flight entertainment and assisting the flight crew with immersive training.

It’s so impressive that AR/VR technology has now stepped into the world of aviation. The implementation of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for the flight crew training provides wide opportunities for increasing the effectiveness of the process. This process is really inexpensive compared to traditional process.

Bolverk XR is one of the few companies who provides world-class solutions for the aviation training industry.

Let’s go through the interview below to get more detailed information about the company.

Games went looking to take another part of the VR market, and settled on B2B training. Bolverk was split in two, forming Bolverk XR. As the CEO of Bolverk XR, Bo handles all product development, hiring, strategic planning and key account management.

3) What is the present scenario of AR/VR Solution industry?

AR/VR is on the rise, with many players starting to realize that VR can make an actual difference in both quality and price when training employees. The benefits are now looking like winner business cases, and most businesses could benefit year one when investing in VR technology to replace and improve current processes.

4) How did you get inspired to become an AR/VR Solution Provider?

1) Brief us about your company.

Bolverk XR was created to win the market for VR training in sectors that combine expensive assets with mandatory recurring training. Adding an element of fun to otherwise tedious training, while upping the quality and lowering the cost is a great idea, and right now Bolverk XR is proving highly successful in the Airline sector, providing cabin crew safety training to thousands of cabin attendants.

2) Tell us something about the Founder/CEO. Bo Bennekov used to work as Development Manager for several large Danish companies, including Thomas Cook Airlines. After falling madly in love with VR, he started Bolverk Games with two equally persuaded VR enthusiasts. After two successful games, Bolverk

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We bought an Oculus DK1, and was amazed at the immersion and direct impact it had on the mind. We instantly decided to take part in the market-to-come.

5) What are the Products/services/solutions that make your company unique in the market?

We build highly focused, highly specialized training scenarios that solves real-life problems for training managers in the airline industry. And we are targeting multiple sectors afterwards, building upon the learnings from the airline sector.

6) Tell us something about the benefits gained by your clients/users from you.

We add the ability to train and retrain without adding

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“

We provide Airlines with a State-of-the-art educational method when it comes to critical emergency procedures ensuring the safety of their PAX

Bo Bennekov CEO

cost each time. At the same time, making mistakes does not have real-world consequences, and the students get to repeat the training as many times as they like. On top we generate data about the habits and pitfalls in the training, and can progressively improve the education.

7) With the introduction of newer technologies like AI, IoT, and vast improvement in wireless technologies & telecom infrastructure, what are the scopes and challenges coming with it?

We are already testing a multiplayer training scenario, and with the new wireless headsets, crew can train with each other in the same aircraft from multiple locations.

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The challenge for us is growing fast enough, because the market is there and wanting to utilize and exploit the new paradigm in training technology. Adding a layer of data-smarts (AI) to the training data will enable us to answer questions that we don’t even know to pose right now.

8) What can be expected from your company in near future?

We have several larger airlines in the pipeline, and we will be raising a series: A funding to further own a signiďŹ cant, dominant market share within the next two years. Expect us to grow from 10 employees to 50 on the same timescale.

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Leadership Insights

ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Cahn is Global VP of Marketing for Elemica, the leading provider of a Digital Supply Network for process manufacturers.

David Cahn Global VP of Marketing Elemica

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CHALLENGES & RISKS IN ADOPTING

DIGITAL DISRUPTION T echnological innovation is happening at a faster rate than ever before, causing digital disruptions for many businesses. A digital disruption is a transformation that is caused by emerging digital technologies and business models. These innovative new technologies and models can impact the value of existing products and services offered in the industry, actually disrupting the current market and causing businesses to re-evaluate their competitive advantage.

Ignoring digital disruptions can impact businesses.

Remember Polaroid? The company led the market with its cameras that created instant pictures. Yet in 2001, the Polaroid Corporation filed for federal bankruptcy protection because the company failed to make the smooth transition from analog to digital cameras. The corporation decided to bet on their past innovations and, as a result, lost to companies who jumped on the digital bandwagon. By keeping abreast of changes in demand, businesses can follow the trends and adjust their strategies to embrace these changes, which will help them to thrive and grow profits.

Today’s digital disruptors are companies like Amazon and Uber, who use technologies to out maneuver the competition and build growth. Disruptors can be startup companies or long-established businesses. A wait-and-see attitude will not give a business sufficient time to make a comeback when the disruptor begins to dominate the industry.

Companies must continuously reinvent their business using digital disruptive technology or watch from the sidelines

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while they lose market share. Yet, many businesses still struggle with acceptance, and others don’t know where to start the journey.

Accepting Digital Disruption

Digital disruption is fueled by next generation technology, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, the Internet of Things and software-enabled platforms that tie all these technologies together. C-level executives understand that any industry can be profoundly affected by digital disruption and no one can afford to ignore the threat. In other words, digital disruption rewrites the rules of business.

Digital disruption begins with acceptance of digital transformation using digital technologies within operations and ecosystems. Today’s technology allows all business stakeholders to share a single network, connecting and collaborating on supply chain operations from one end of the enterprise to the other. Each trading partner has access to information generated through the network in order to gain visibility to all aspects of production, procurement, transportation and distribution. With the proper information, executives can make qualified decisions that drive improvements in the business.

Accepting digital disruptions within the enterprise means the business is no longer worried by the disruption and instead leverages strategic planning and technologies to drive the business. Disruption is accepted into the culture of the organization so innovation is a day-to-day experience.

Instead of concern, the business will be better able to sense

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and respond to changes in demand and disruptions to mitigate any risk.

Often a business has to decide whether to respond to the digital disruption or not. While it is not conducive to ignore the disruption, businesses may not always have to respond.

Instead, the business can complement the disruption by adding value to it. An example would be to create technologies that augment the disruption, such as software (added value) for an iPhone (disruptor).

Beginning a Digital Transformation Journey To start the journey, management needs to design a strategy for digital transformation that involves people, processes and partners. The strategy should be broken down into process steps that contain material, information and people flow. Each employee knows that the product moves from process A to process B in a specific quantity, at a specific time, to a specific location. Because of digital technologies, people have visibility into what is happening with each step, giving them the ability to uncover bottlenecks that can cause delays or poor product quality.

Today’s technology allows all stakeholders to share a single network, connecting and collaborating on supply chain activities from one end of the enterprise to the other. Each trading partner has access to information generated through the network in order to gain visibility to all aspects of production, procurement, transportation and distribution.

With the proper information, executives can make qualified decisions that drive improvements in the business.

Digital Supply Networks (DSN) are part of a digital transformation journey, providing a technology foundation for improving inter-business processes, expanding supply chain relationships, increasing revenues and reducing operating costs. DSNs create greater opportunities by integrating suppliers, customers, and logistics service providers in various ways depending on the level of interbusiness processes that are performing.

One method is to connect via ERP-to-ERP integrations with high-volume suppliers and customers to streamline and automate sell-side and buy-side transactions. A second technique is through some type of portal for order capture and invoicing for inter-business automation. Finally, some

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leading DSNs provide email as a simple onboarding method to digitize an inter-business process without requiring supply chain partners to have any integration software.

Benefits of Digital Disruptions Digital transformation helps customers know where their “stuff” is at all times, similar to the conveniences derived from mobile apps, where a taxi is ordered and the route visualized on the phone screen. Emerging next-gen end-toend visibility applications in concert with a network of interconnected buyers, suppliers and logistics providers are enabling companies to lower working capital and operating expenses, mitigate risk and improve customer satisfaction by breaking down silos within the organization. With digital transformation, the supply chain is now a completely integrated ecosystem accessible by all stakeholders.

With end-to-end visibility as the key driver for an effective supply chain improvement strategy, businesses must rely on building more collaborative relationships across their network of trading partners. Gaining end-to-end visibility across transportation processes can deliver 6% or more in transportation savings, remove the equivalent of 15 people from operating costs by improving productivity, and reduce the Cash-to-Cash cycle by 4 days or more.

Digital systems gather data, which can be used for predictive analytics and machine learning to continually improve the organization. More informed decisions can be made by management. Disruptions from digital technologies can reshape markets and help with launching new products or services for less cost.

With a digital transformation in the supply chain, silos dissolve and every part of the ecosystem has full visibility to what is happening from end-to-end. Supply and demand signals can travel through the network uninhibited, alerting the appropriate parties to low levels of raw materials or inventory, or seasonal spikes in demand. Because trading partners get this information in real time through the digital supply network, they can react accordingly. Digital disruptions from digital transformations will results into huge gains in customer satisfaction, profits and efficiencies.

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Darya Yegorina Founder & CEO

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for developing 21st-century skills and focusing on personalized learning through kinetic, and audio-visual educational approaches.

CleverBooks offers a range of products for teaching and learning empowered

by Augmented Reality. All products are STEM certified and global curriculum guidelines based. The products aim to develop and enhance interest and curiosity levels in STEM, create a base

The Illuminator of CleverBooks Darya Yegorina, the Founder and CEO of CleverBooks, runs other ventures in multiple industries also.

Apart from being an entrepreneur, she has a massive professional experience from start-ups to multinational corporations. Darya’s current focus is on emerging technologies for education where she has the mission to deliver the most innovative Augmented Reality technology to schools around

leverBooks provides STEMoriented global curriculumbased teaching and learning solutions for primary education.

Empowering Kids Learning in the acquisition of necessary for the 21st Century skills by utilizing the most innovative AR technology tools is the primary goal of the company.

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the world to create equal access to technology for kids globally. She is a professional speaker on a global scale representing women in tech and inspiring new entrepreneurs.

With a background in sales, she is also experienced in fitness, retail, import/export management consulting and project execution, and startups.

Darya is the winner of Digital Female Leaders Award in the category Entrepreneurship in 2018, named as Innovator by Irish Times in 2018, awarded Young Irish Entrepreneur in 2016, featured in Inc.com, Forbes and other global media as the promoter and

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facilitator of education technology for the best future of the kids in the world.

Apart from this, Darya supports and drives the following initiatives: • Darya is Dublin Ambassador for Women of Wearables Ÿ Darya is an Industrial Advisory Board member at TETRAMAX ICT technology transfer initiative supported by European Union Ÿ Darya is an Ambassador at HundrEd Ÿ Darya is a board member and cofounder at Eirmersive (Irish Immersive Technologies Association) Ÿ MIT Ambassador Innovators under 35 Inspiration behind CleverBooks In the era of rapid digital advancement, schools are now struggling to maintain relevancy in their classes due to rapid changes in the job market.

Schools are obliged to innovate to sustain their development by building a strong ICT infrastructure to accommodate 21st-century learning demands for K-12 students.

However, it is not enough to simply add technology to existing teaching methods. Technology must be used strategically to benefit students with quality digital content with strong academic relevance to provide effective learning.

Unique Solutions and Services CleverBooks sets the standards in Augmented Reality to help kids improve test-score by up to 33% and increases retention rate by up to 100% with the latest STEM-oriented Augmented Reality (AR) technology that supports students’ individual learning styles. We want to support

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innovative schools and educators to ensure students have access to the most up to date academic STEM-oriented content powered by innovative AR technology to meet necessary for the 21st-century kid’s learning demands.

“CleverBooks is a creative company that creates personalized children’s books with clever stories, as well as books with 3D augmented reality”, asserts Founder Yegorina.

Further, she continues, “Kids themselves are the main character in their own high-quality printed book.

We are inspired by our own kids and really happy to share this great experience with you. It is a proven fact that tales help kids in many ways to develop fantasy and imagination, as well as to educate. So why not use tales and make the story personal? This is the concept we have applied in our books.”

The Initial Entrepreneurial Challenges Yegorina says that the entrepreneurial battlefield is not for everyone. “When you are an entrepreneur, you should love challenges. Otherwise, it’s just not for you.”

The company had some problems at the beginning before they found a very good quality publishing company. It also had some issues with software module development. The most important quality is communication.

worldwide expansion and hopefully being a disruptive force in the field of kids’ education and upbringing.

Our company is setting the standards for AR use in education space. We aim to structure and re-shape education and create the new futuristic approach to teaching and learning.

Words of Trust from Clients “CleverBooks has given my classes an extra dimension, both literally and figuratively. For example, when studying 3D images, CleverBooks’ AR products make the flat experience of a book into a multi-dimensional experience, incorporating multimedia, audio and animation. Children can really see what a 3D image looks like from lots of different angles.” _Simon Lewis, Educate Together Carlow, Ireland “Tested CleverBooks Geometry with Augmented reality solution with kids in the classroom environment. Liked the most the variety of shapes, the voice over helped students pronounce the type of shape names”. _ David Talbert, Head of Technology Integration, Dubai British School Jumeirah Park – United Arab Emirates

Yegorina believes this is the best time to be an entrepreneur and, with so many good ideas out there, good entrepreneurs will make their mark.

“It was really good experience with CleverBooks Geography app for primary school kids! I was very impressed and the kids were very engaged in using it. Great details on the countries and the presentation of the material. Kids were so excited when the continent went live and they could observe animals, plants, places of interests in 3D.”

Featuring the Promising Future The company’s ultimate goal is

_ Paraic Crone, Primary School Teacher, Ireland

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MACH 3 MANAGEMENT An Epoch-Making Approach to Corporate Training

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ighter pilots work in an unforgiving environment.

Especially if operating from an aircraft carrier. To survive and accomplish their missions in a high workload, rapidly changing and challenging environment they cannot solely rely on their skills. They use combat proven methods forged by years of experience.

Mach 3 Management shares and adapts those methods for the corporate world. In order to put people in situations where they will have to take decisions, communicate, face workload challenges and much more, the company uses virtual reality flight simulators.

number of attendees makes it unrealistic to tailor a VR solution.

The Dynamic CEO Pierre-Henri Chuet, callsign “Até” is the Founder of Mach 3 Management. He started flying at 14, competed in aviation sports like air rally, precision flying and aerobatics as a teenager, getting several France championship title and joining the French national team.

Afterwards he joined the French navy to serve as a naval aviator and stayed 13 years in the service. During that period, he flew from French and American aircraft carriers, deployed and got decorated for his actions in Iraq, displayed the Rafale Navy in airshows around Europe and met with the engineers in charge of the Rafale development to help improve the new versions. He also took part in two other world championships in duathlon and triathlon.

Although he left the service for a Canadian major airline, “Até” decided to start his own company to share his experience, seeing a unique opportunity in the realm of Virtual Reality.

The Unique Choices The unique selling points of Mach 3 Management are mentioned below: Unique methods

The Services and Offerings The Virtual Reality immersion enables the gamification process to reach another level. Using the best of the best methods used in military and civil aviation, either in Europe or in North America M3M offers a new approach to corporate training. Communication, decision making, continuous improvement, briefing and debriefing methodology, leadership, and followership are just some of the subjects the company focuses on.

Mach 3 Management has worked with Business Schools, universities, banks, healthcare companies, tech companies, aviation industry manufacturer, which contributed in expanding and growing its concept. It currently holds the capability to deploy 8 flight simulators and one control center linked all together at the client location. The London based company delivers training all over Europe and is currently reaching out new markets overseas. It also offers keynote speeches or workshops without VR when the

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They are a mix of navy, air force, commercial and general aviation methods from the US, Canada, France and the UK, in addition to some sport mental preparation used at an international level.

Unique expertise You won’t find any other trainer with a background as diverse with world championship experience in three different sports, commercial aviation, naval aviation, combat experience and airshow experience.

Unique gamification The use of cooperative virtual simulators and command center enable up to 20 persons to interact in real time, work and learn together and create common souvenirs and experience.

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We are combat-proven and ready to help your team/business reach the skies

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Pierre-Henri “Até” Chuet Founder Venue of your choice

that TEAM means Together Each Achieve More.

The company delivers the training directly at the client venue. It takes between an hour and half a day to setup depending on the number of simulators to setup.

Scopes Booming with Technology

Benefits for Clients The clients will learn a lot about themselves. To be able to be a great manager or leader first you have to let go your ego out of the equation, you have to be able to analyze not only the others but also yourself. The VR experience is perfect for that as it brings you outside your comfort zone.

The clients of M3M learn methods on continuous improvement. They will learn how to debrief efficiently, identify mistakes and modify the process to reduce their likelihood of reoccurrence.

They will learn how to communicate efficiently, trying methods used in cockpits of airliners or in combat operations where there is no room for misunderstanding.

At the end of the day communication will be improved, debriefing methodology will be understood and synergy amongst the clients will be greatly improved. They will understand that every team member has a role to play and

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The world is now moving at an exponential rate. People will have to adapt in their industry to remain competitive.

Soft skills, communication and continuous improvement are going to be the key to remain in the game in the coming years. Having two dozen years of experience in an industry will soon mean that you are an expert of the past. Agility is going to be the key.

People will have to learn very quickly how to adapt and how to be flexible. This means that the way students and employees are training will change to adapt to those new challenges.

Future Prospects “We are looking at closing more partnerships with post graduate schools and companies. We are also looking for new markets in America and Asia. Our classes are extremely well perceived, and we would like to reach a broader audience as soon as possible. We are currently working on an online University to be able to give access to our methods to a broader public”, concludes Até.

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Editor’s Perspective

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Biophilic Design:

A Grandiose Architectural Trend to Enrich Workplace

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he serene view of greenery, the murmuring sound of a fountain, the refreshing sound of raindrops tickling on the glass…don’t they feel quite soothing to your soul? Yes, they do. This is because it’s our inherent connection with nature and its beauty.

First introduced by Edward O. Wilson in 1984, the term Biophilia denotes the eternal bond of human with nature.

Every living soul has an innate urge to connect and engross with nature and its beauty. Biophilic design is an innovative way to adopt the beauty and freshness of nature into workplace which inspires us to work, learn, and grow. This can be seen as a conscious inclusion of environmental bliss into our workplace and fuel our productivity with its alluring presence.

A Few Statistics on the Impact of Concrete Work Atmosphere An environment devoid of nature and fresh air can never inspire good health, productivity, or positive approach to work. A suffocating office atmosphere results in poor performance, absenteeism, shrinkage in work time and increased cost of money. According to research carried out

by Harvard Business Review, 47 percent of employees feel tired or very tired due to an absence of natural light at work and 43 percent feel gloomy for the same reason.

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Here’s a statistics: According to Interface, in the USA, absenteeism costs employers an average of $2,074 per employee, per year.

feeling of being unwell as they reduce dust, mold, and CO2 levels.

2. Auditory Elements:

In the UK, work-related stress accounts for 35% of ill health and 43% of absenteeism, costing organizations an estimated 29 billion pounds per year.

Apart from giving an aesthetic look to the office, the Biophilic design improves employee well-being bringing natural environment to the workplace which leads to better performance.

Fading Light of Nature and the Appealing Reasons to embrace Biophilia The ceaseless wave of modernization is going to alienate us from our mother nature. Yes, our modern day dreams have revealed its poisonous teeth. According to a report by UN, the recent social and economic changes have resulted in detaching more people from nature than ever. The report also indicates that currently 55 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, which is going to reach 68% by 2050.

Looking at such statistics, we can believe that Biophilic design is going to be our savior in the time of growing urbanization. The introduction of natural elements in the workplace will be proved hugely beneficial as the stressrelated sickness at work increases. The Biophilic design will not only intensify the appearance of the office, it will result in some more creative, cheerful, and pro-active staff too. So here are some ways to incorporate Biophilia in your office. Read on!

Five Smart Ways to Incorporate Biophilic Design in Workplaces

Natural sounds hasten the process of healing and psychological restoration by 37% as compared to city noises or silence. Soothing sounds of water or wind are really bliss to an active mind. Natural auditory elements like chirping sounds of birds, cascading water or slow instrumental music can be some of the wonderful add-ons.

3. Olfactory Elements: Fresh flowers, plant oils and fruit essences are some highly recommended diffusers to calm an active workplace. Quite opposite to regular temperature and ventilator system in offices, Biophilic design mirrors outdoor variability while giving occupants individual control.

4. Thermal Variability: With the sun, wind, rain, and air pressure time spent outdoors is constantly changing temperatures contrasting to the constant blast of air conditioners inside the office. The Biophilic design incorporates intuitive HVAC units that mimic the weather outside when it’s pleasant and regulate the temperature 5. Light Variability: Natural light conditions are always at a flux just like the dynamic natural temperature. The natural circadian rhythm shares a strong bond with the changing light. A Circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours.

(Wikipedia) Being consistently exposed to harsh artificial lighting interrupts this rhythm causing fatigue, boredom and insomnia.

1. Visual Elements: Visual elements help in reducing fatigue and rejuvenating stressed minds. Exposure to green color creates a positive impact on creativity level of the employees. Both real and artificial plants are resplendent choices.

The Biophilic effect of green leaves does magic in reducing unpleasant symptoms such as headaches, or the general

Apart from these, flowing water installations such as fountains, water walls, and constructed streams are also highly recommended for spacious offices.

Redefine and rejuvenate the office decorum with a splash of Biophilia and keep yourself ahead of the sophisticated ladder of success.

- Upama Goswami

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OPTINVENT Disruptive Devices Reimagined for Enchanting User Experience

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he market for AR in industry is currently in its infancy but is emerging. Current software solutions are still not able to seamlessly integrate into the customer’s back-end processes and there is a general lack of interoperability with modular approach. Current hardware devices (smart glasses) are still unreliable, heavy, and expensive and are not able to show a clear ROI. Optinvent is a pioneer and leader in see-through retinal display technologies. Optinvent holds 32 granted international patents on its disruptive light guide based AR display technology. Optinvent’s technology is the only one in the world based on molded plastic elements making it lightweight and shatterproof while still having excellent brightness efficiency and color rendering. Optinvent’s world renowned team has received several awards for its products and is recognized industry wide for its expertise in the field of optics. Currently, the company makes a cutting-edge AR smart glass called ORA-2 based on its proprietary patented technology and extensive know-how.

According to IDC, “Head-mounted displays will see market-beating growth over the next five years”. Optinvent was named as one of the key innovators by IDC. This market is projected to grow to 25M units by 2022 from a few thousand units today. Optinvent is targeting this high growth sector with its lightweight and affordable ORA-2 devices and its complete solution package called ORAEYE. Optinvent is poised to become a market leader in the professional segment and has a disruptive vision for the yet untapped potential of the consumer market.

performance and form factor. The ORA-2 is lightweight, weighing only 90grams and has a very long battery life of 4hrs. It is also one of the most affordable Smart Glasses out there with a selling price of 699€. Optinvent also provides a complete solution called ORA-EYE. ORA-EYE is an ergonomic application for Hands-Free Remote Maintenance, Remote Assistance and Training that works in conjunction with the the ORA-2 smart glasses.

Remote Assistance is the act of performing a task whereby a technician wearing an ORA-2 can communicate with an expert in another location “remotely” and hands free.

Information is exchanged through the ORA-2 which is equipped with a camera, see through display, sound, and a microphone. The expert can guide the technician through complex tasks via a “see what I see” analogy. This is similar to video conferencing except that the expert sees “through the eyes” of the technician instead of just seeing each other.

The technician wearing the smart device equipped with a camera transmits the video feed wirelessly via WiFi through the network and gets instructions from the expert via voice and the display.

Remote Assistance can greatly improve the reliability and speed of maintenance operations and are an effective means of training technical staff to carry out complex tasks.

This obviously saves time and travel since the technician and expert can be at different locations across the globe.

The Ardent Leader

ORA-2~ the Smart Glass Platform Optinvent’s ORA-2 is a professional smart glass platform based on a large see-through virtual display capable of supporting a multitude of hands-free mobile computing and augmented reality applications with record setting

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Kayvan Mirza, the CEO and Co-founder of Optinvent, is a born entrepreneur with a strong international background having built his career in the US and Europe. Before founding Optinvent, Kayvan held top management positions at large corporates such as HP, Invensnys, and

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The ORA-2 features a disruptive transparent retinal projection technology for a crisp, bright image display

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Kayvan Mirza CEO & Co-founder Technicolor where he successfully created an optical component business from scratch. He also ran a high-volume component business with two R&D centers in Singapore and Germany, manufacturing in Indonesia (20mpcs/yr), and a worldwide sales force and agent network. He holds a BSEE degree from University of Illinois and has studied Operations Management at the ESCP the oldest business school in Europe.

Future Perspective All attempts to introduce a consumer augmented reality (AR) device have failed so far because they have never managed to look like “normal glasses”. Google Glass,

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Microsoft Hololens, and the most recent Magic Leap One ($2.4 billion raised) have not gained significant traction with consumers because nobody want to wear ugly, heavy and uncomfortable computing devices on their face. It is not about the industrial design. The huge technology breakthroughs required are still too far away. Therefore, a new paradigm is needed.

Optinvent’s response is a disruptive new vision: Create the world’s first consumer AR device, based on headphones that people actually want to wear in public: the ORA-X. The ORA-X combines the form factor of headphones with Optinvent’s exclusive patented AR display technology to create a brand-new product category.

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You-VR A Worldwide VR Multiplayer Solution Provider

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ounded in 2015, You-VR is a solution provider for the entertainment industry (LBE) and added multiplayer B2B solutions. Founding the entertainment brand Vonderland for international content production is the third major step of You-VR. B2B XR solutions are thriving very healthy and also the entertainment out of home solutions. You-VR plans to offer a system for home XR so that all games and applications can be played without a hassle, due to our software SyncReality for auto-adaptive playfields.

Cyril Tuschi with senior level experience in Film Production and Story development always thrives for stories bigger than life. This is the reason behind the contentious addition of AR/VR to the company’s production tools.

Cyril Tuschi CEO & Founder

The Inspiration behind the Initiation

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We synchronize and harmonize the real world with the virtual – and make sense by doing so!

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Initially, while working on a Film project in Hong Kong, Cyril saw that all the topics discussed on the conferences he attended in Europe, were already implemented and scaled in HK and China. Also, when he experienced full-body avatar multiplayer VR for the very first time, he understood that it is crucial to plunge into immersive worlds always with other people—once you have a companion on this virtual uncharted territory, the unknown fields become less unknown, when you have a real person next to you.

After this key experience he made the decision to only develop social VR multiplayer experiences.

Unique Products and Services You-VR offers, primarily, multisensory XR for theme parks and corporate B2B solutions for training and education, be it multiplayer with wind, heat, vibration, scents and full body avatars.

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For home XR, the company synchronizes the real world with the virtual. With their product SyncReality, the content will be placed automatically within its Auto-Adaptive Playfields and the algorithms will do the placement in an aesthetical and dramaturgical manner which increases the quality of the experience.

(Location Based Entertainment und Brand Experience Centers) and LA (Content Development).

AI, IOT and 5G will create the metaverse, where a virtual layer will be placed over the reality. It will be crowd sourced and steadily expanding.

The main focus of the company at the moment is to developing a system and content for “Connected Entertainment”, which expands entertainment IP or products, as well as educational content to a broad variety of interactive Media, as AR apps, projection mapping, elastic content for synchronized in-vehicle content, multisensory multi-player XR and theme park attractions.

Off course all topics privacy, “opt-in-as-a-standard” and health tests will be mandatory to build up a trustful relationship with the customers.

All these media platforms are interconnected via You-VR’s cloud backbone, so that the user can grow parallel to the ever-expanding transmedia experience.

Best Solutions for Clients

One unique own product of You-VR is in development at the moment, to be integrated into the Vonderland “Connected Entertainment” System: SyncReality.

There are still many hurdles, to experience VR applications at home: no space, too much furniture, no haptic feedback.

The biggest benefit for the B2B and LBE sector is the highest multisensory immersion within an affordable and scalable setup. Another huge advantage for the clients is a long tradition in storytelling and technology. The company builds interactive storyworlds, rooted in classical storytelling.

The XR industry is pretty well accelerating in the fields of hardware and utilities, but still quite flimsy, if we look at content and new ways of creating experience spaces.

Exactly that is the strength of You-VR– building creative bridges between linear content and interconnected storyworlds. Be it for training, education and onboarding or commerce and entertainment.

Since You-VR is a company with a holistic approach, it can offer full service solutions, from technology advice, ideation and straight forward prototyping, content production, as well as marketing and servicing of the finished experiences.

The new platform and product SyncReality will solve all these problems. SyncReality will turn every home into a micro themepark by synchronizing the real world with the virtual – all obstacles become game objects and all IoT devices SFX-Elements of the experience.

To prove the power “Connected Entertainment” can have for the original IP and the current hyper-diversified market, we are in the middle of pre-production of an international “Connected Entertainment” usecase, accompanying a film-premiere of a children’s blockbuster by a US major film studio.

The Future Roadmap You-VR founded in Berlin an Entertainment Branch under the brand name VONDERLAND. Within one year the company established creative satellites in Frankfurt (art & advertisement), Munich (R&D for auto-adaptive incar entertainment), Shanghai

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