SXSW London: pathways for immersive impact at scale
By Camille Donegan, CEO at EirmersiveTwo of the most valuable conversations I had at SXSW London happened on consecutive days, and together they painted an interesting picture of where the immersive sector is heading.
Camille Donegan, Nigel McAlpine, Heleen Rouw and Michael Barngrover
📍 2 June – Belgium House, Shoreditch Arts Club
I was delighted to join a panel moderated by Mathieu Demaré alongside Michael Barngrover (XR4Europe), Heleen Rouw (CIIIC) and Nigel McAlpine (Digital Catapult) exploring a challenge many of us are wrestling with across Europe: how do we bridge the gap between immersive innovation and real-world adoption?
The conversation focused on the "missing middle" between research, prototypes and scalable deployment. We discussed digital sovereignty, cross-border collaboration, ecosystem development and the role immersive technologies can play across sectors from culture and education to manufacturing, health and digital twins. As Eirmersive deepen our engagement with manufacturing SMEs on the PRISM programme, it was great to share some early findings to support the conversation.
I also participated in a Horizon Europe Cluster 2 workshop bringing together Belgian and UK universities, research centres and creative technology companies to explore future opportunities across cultural heritage, creative industries, immersive technologies, AI, media innovation and democracy. We are proud to be at the table representing Irelands' XR ecosystem. The discussions opened up a number of interesting conversations around future European partnerships and consortium building.
Thanks for the invite XR Wallonia HITT 👏
📍 3 June – CIIIC Expert Roundtables, NL House
CIIIC's industry 'Immersive Futures, Human First' roundtables
The following day I joined CIIIC's industry 'Immersive Futures, Human First' roundtables, bringing together creators, researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders from across Europe.
The conversations explored how immersive experiences can create cultural, social and economic impact, and how we ensure that as the technology matures, we remain focused on people rather than technology for technology's sake. The conversations culminated in a presentation at NL House on 'Beyond Profit - Creating Impact Through Immersive Experiences'.
The common thread running through both days?
The challenge for immersive technologies is no longer proving the technology works.
The challenge is building the ecosystems, partnerships, skills, infrastructure, investment and adoption pathways that allow it to create impact at scale.
That's exactly the conversation we're having through Eirmersive in Ireland, and it was encouraging to see so many organisations across Europe working towards the same goal.
Great to catch up with old friends and new Sarah Ticho FRSA 🚀 SXSW London 🚀 Healing Arts Brum, Fiona Kilkelly, Dan Tucker, Asha Easton, Muki Kulhan WIIT UK Ambassador, Alexandra GÉRARD, Leah Kurta, Robyn Landau
We look forward to continuing the conversation with you all.