On a recent trip to Latvia our member XR Ireland had the opportunity to meet Ambassador Eimear Friel, who they introduced to the Irish Immersive ecosystem and Eirmersive.

”Today I saw the future meeting the past. Ancient technology meeting future potential”, said the ambassador after the meeting. “I saw what European funding can deliver when it enables small companies and rural museums from opposite sides of the continent to come together and to imagine what might be.”

XR Ireland founder, Guillaume Auvray said, “We had great conversations about Ireland’s ecosystem and the large variety of companies in Ireland working in the sphere. We would highly recommend meeting all of the SME’s and other industry stakeholders in Ireland at Eirmersive’s events”

We’d like to thank XR Ireland for giving the Ambassador a glimpse of "the future meeting the past", as well as introducing her to the Irish ecosystem and Eirmersive

Eirmersive was delighted to support and present at ‘Shaping the Future of Immersive Technologies in Education & Training’, a VR Symposium at the Technological University of the Shannon, Athlone on May 14th. This one-day, in-person symposium brought together educators, researchers, industry partners and learners to explore the current and future potential of extended reality (XR) applications within an education and training context.

Kudos to Dr Geraldine McDermott-Dalton, Dr Zeta Dooly, Hans Moolman and all of the organisers for an excellent event where collaboration was a resounding theme.

The Eirmersive booth hosted two of our member companies Emagine and Fourth Realitywhere Aaron Jay and Gary Pearson were busy demoing their excellent work across Education, Tourism and Training to attendees.

The 2024 Creative Ireland Programme Progress Report is out and includes Eirmersive’s participation on the Digital Creative Industries Roadmap 2024-26.

”On 16th January 2024, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin T.D., Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Simon Coveney T.D., and Minister of State for Digital Transformation, Dara Calleary T.D. launched the Digital Creative Industries Roadmap 2024-26.

Developed by the Creative Ireland Programme and the Department of Enterprise, the Roadmap seeks to leverage the clear potential of these sectors for sustainable and resilient employment, export growth and regional development. The Roadmap focuses on 3 specific digital creative industry sectors [including] content for emerging immersive technologies AR and VR.”

Massive congratulations to Eirmersive member WWETB who won the Best Use of Educational Technology/ICT Initiative at the Education Awards on Thursday, May 8th, 2025. We are thrilled for Mary Walsh O’Shea, who has been a long term champion of VR in education, and her colleagues.

The judges commented on WWETB’s, “innovative use of virtual reality in the virtual hospital room providing a unique immersive experience. Preparing students exceptionally well for the workforce, forward thinking and driving learner experiences in a highly impactful and technological driven way”

The Virtual Hospital Room was created for the teaching, learning and assessment of Healthcare Skills using Virtual Reality. “For the healthcare learner, this technology allows them to learn and practice new skills in a safe environment. They have an opportunity to practice the skill as many times as they want in the training and revision mode.”

On May 8th we connected with old and new faces at the Meta x CCS Media Ireland Innovation Day in Meta Europe HQ, Dublin. The focus of the event was on achieving business results through Mixed Reality adoption. Speakers included, Anne O’Leary, Vice President, EMEA SMBG Mid-Market, Meta, Nicole Staubli: Education Partnerships Lead, Meta, Andrew Dyke: UKI Solution Sales Manager, Meta, Aidan Kehoe: Designer, Logitech and David Whelan: CEO, Engage.

We were delighted to connect with Andrew Dyke, Andrew MacAlpine and Abiola Ajayi from the Meta Reality Labs team Ireland and UK as well as Damian Murray and Michael Ojo at CCS Media Ireland. We look forward to see what initiatives we can cook up together to support and grow the Immersive Technology sector in Ireland.

Meta is a member of Eirmersive.

Eirmersive's CEO Camille Donegan attended Laval Virtual, one of Europe’s largest XR events at the Mayenne Espace event venue in the town of Laval, Western France and was joined by Board Director and founding member Jacinta Moore.

As a first stop, they attended the NL (Netherlands) delegation stand where 10 Dutch XR companies were presenting. There they met with Arno Gransma, Entrepreneur, Industrial Additive Manufacturing expert and Immersive Experience community builder who introduced Camille to exhibiting Dutch companies and their teams, including Mesh Masters, Presence EU XR project, and Saxion University of Applied Sciences. They were also introduced to Monique Voguel Immersive Learning Specialist with fectar, a VR and AR platform, who demonstrated the company's work with museums, 3D scanning etc. Jacinta also met with Simon Moss, Product Lead and Consultant with the Presence EU XR project and trialled their live holographic VR platform, speaking with a hologram of a team member in Barcelona.

Emagine has announced the launch of ImmerSEAve VR—a groundbreaking shared virtual reality experience developed in collaboration with Baccana Digital Consulting for the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. This immersive journey allows up to eight participants to explore the depths of a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area together, without getting wet.

From a technical standpoint, ImmerSEAve VR represents a significant achievement. The system runs on lightweight, portable headsets with no need for external computers or internet. It delivers real-time shared interaction with zero latency, supporting multiple users in the same physical space for a seamless and intuitive experience.

The experience officially launched as part of 'Mediterranee 2050' in Monaco, with H.S.H. Prince Albert II among the dignitaries. His visit underscored the importance of innovation in raising awareness about marine conservation. Emagine is currently working on a second experience for the Oceanographic Museum, focusing on a deep-sea collective adventure. 

Michael Barngrover is the Managing Director at XR4Europe and a leader within international communities. He has recently been selected as an expert representative for the European Commission’s DG CNECT Studies on Critical Digital Technologies. This initiative will shape Europe’s digital strategy for 2028-2040, focusing on emerging and strategic technologies crucial for research, deployment, and adoption. Through focus groups, Delphi surveys, and foresight workshops, these studies will identify key investment priorities to maintain Europe’s leadership in digital innovation.

Eirmersive was honoured to have Michael deliver the keynote address at ‘Outward’ in Dublin where he painted a comprehensive picture of European XR in a Global Context. The following is a summary of the key points from his presentation but we absolutely encourage you to watch the full presentation below.

We had a fantastic few days in Tralee delivering the first in our new series of Immersive Futures workshops, where we shared Immersive Technology, AI and Virtual Production workflows, platforms and tools with the participants, including Virtual Production for animation platform Animotive and Augmented Reality Spatial Storytelling Trails builder platform Lureo.

After the workshop we were delighted to get a site visit at the AgriTech Centre of Excellence (ACE). We were very impressed by the 180 projector and screen setup as well as the multiple VR kits for use with clients, students and school groups. The team at ACE and MTU are building immersive solutions for companies of all sizes in the region and with Kevin Maye and some very talented interns, they are exploring R&D of the latest tech from interactive AI powered avatars, 180 stereoscopic video and some footage to live streaming of volumetric humans.

To address the psychological needs of children with chronic illnesses in Children’s Health Ireland, an innovative Forest Hospital is being developed by the Psychology Department. There will be three phases to the forest hospital intervention. The second phase will be a forest workshop on the rooftop of the new children’s hospital. The first phase is a virtual reality experience of the forest, which inpatient children who are too sick to attend the forest activities can access.

This week the UCD Media and Entertainment Lab hosted the Forest Hospital clinical psychology team from Children's Health Ireland, and Eirmersive was delighted to join the discussion. The project, is in collaboration with NUI Galway and Barretstown.

The immersive technology sector in Ireland is booming, and thanks to Creative Ireland’s support, Eirmersive had the incredible opportunity to showcase the best of what our talented creators and innovators have to offer at Ireland House at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin Texas from 9th – 11th March 2025. This included Eirmersive member companies having the opportunity to meet with and present to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

For those unfamiliar with SXSW, it is one of the most influential global events for creativity, technology, and innovation. Attendees from all over the world gather in Austin, Texas to discuss, discover, and celebrate the future of industries ranging from tech to music, film, and interactive media. What makes it unique is…

While hosting a delegation of members at Stereopsia in December, Eirmersive CEO Camille Donegan was interviewed by OPENVERSE partners about the ways that we’re growing the ecosystem and collaboration opportunities:

“We’re here to put Ireland on the map, to show that Ireland has a really thriving ecosystem, lots of great companies that are very talented. We’re interested in being involved in European projects. Ireland is a small country, but we have a very connected tech and creative ecosystem, so we can quickly bring groups together for working groups, where we can have tangible results in a streamlined way quite quickly.” ~Camille Donegan

The purpose of OPENVERSE is to establish European Virtual Worlds characterised by openness, transparency, inclusivity, ethical and environmental responsibility, and to enhance EU’s technological sovereignty.

We asked attendees at Outward why they attended and what they got out of the event. Their answers reminded us of of what makes our community so special; and that’s you, all of you who are a part of our amazing network! Here’s a sampling of the comments but watch the full video to learn why you might like to become a member of Eirmersive, to receive invites and discounts to events like this:

“I saw this advertised today, it looked like a great opportunity to get back in and to get more involved in VR technology again and see the new opportunities that this will bring for people in media backgrounds like myself. I found it brilliant, a lot of people have been great to talk to, the talks have been very informative and it's great to see new development and just the number of people of different backgrounds here to be able to talk to them to understand what they're doing and then to derive ideas from that.”

When we brought our first international delegation of members to Stereopsia 2024 in Brussels, Eiremersive Camille Donegan was invited by the organizers to a ‘fireside chat’ interview. We were delighted to share how the event enabled our members to connect, network, and showcase their work to Stereopsia’s international audience. Watch the interview here.

Eirmersive has been proudly showcasing Ireland’s top immersive content creators and technology innovators at SXSW, the annual event in Austin, Texas that celebrates the convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture.

Eirmersive CEO Camille Donegan, highlighted Ireland’s leadership in immersive storytelling, technology, and innovation. Eight pioneering member companies demonstrated their world-class work across marketing, entertainment, education, and beyond, captivating SXSW attendees with groundbreaking projects.

Our FREE Immersive Futures Workshop is coming to Co. Kerry on March 26th! Dive into a full-day exploration of cutting-edge technologies, including AI (Artificial Intelligence), Immersive Technologies (VR/AR/MR) and Virtual Production brought to you by Eirmersive and funded by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland. Learn about tools such as Animotive, DeepMotion, LUMA AI, virtual production for 2D animation tool sets and AI-powered 2D-to-3D asset creation. This workshop will give you insights into how emerging tools can become part of your workflow from a fantastic team made up of Camille Donegan, Sean Burns, Ryan McKenna, Shane Murphy, David Toolan and Jess Harkin. Whether you’re a professional working in screen, gaming, animation, theatre or a tech-savvy creative or, you’re just curious, this workshop is designed to empower creatives with some of the most cutting-edge tools. Bring your own laptop so you can follow along and gain hands-on experience with the tech!

Irish toy company HoloToyz, has announced an exciting new partnership with Mattel, the owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world, bringing Barbie and Hot Wheels further into the new era of Augmented Reality (AR) play. This collaboration marks a major milestone for HoloToyz, following the incredible success of the Barbie movie and Mattel’s continued innovation in the toy industry.

In a world-first, HoloToyz will launch an AR Fashion Dress-Up Barbie Set, allowing kids to dress Barbie in a selection of magnetic outfits and watch the doll come to life in 3D animation, wearing the exact outfit they chose. With a simple tap, children can place a fully animated Barbie in their room, interact and even take photos and videos beside her — bridging the gap between physical and digital play like never before.

Eirmersive is delighted to announce not one but two spotlighting opportunities for their Immersive company members at Ireland House at SXSW. First:

Ireland House Opening Night, 7-10pm Sunday 9th March, Marlow, 700 E 6th St, Austin: Where Innovation + Imagination Collide. Join us for a gathering of the creative industries in celebration of storytelling through screen and extended realities. Showcase and demonstrations from Eirmersive and Screen Ireland.

Second, we’re hosting a panel discussion with our members on 'The Power of Spatial Storytelling in Learning, Tourism and Entertainment' at Ireland House at SXSW on Tues 11th March at 11:15am, where we’ll explore how Ireland’s leading immersive technology companies are harnessing the power of Virtual and Augmented Reality to craft memorable and impactful experiences across sectors.

Julia Bruton, a German/Irish VR creator, producer and writer is founder of VR Women, a platform and podcast shining a light on a female perspective of VR. Julia founded VR Women to show how immensely complex this new medium is and what lies beyond the questions of technical issues for his medium.

"Believing VR is an amazing medium for female ways to dive deep into research, creation and production I'm curious about your thoughts and new ideas. If you have a topic you'd like to discuss on the podcast or show on the website please get in touch. Lets shape this medium and its future together"

Foróige’s GoVirtual and GoSonic teams attended the Digital Education Conference at SETU Waterford in December 2024. The innovative Foróige GoDigital offerings were met with great enthusiasm and recognition for their contributions to digital youth engagement.

They highlighted a pioneering collaborative pilot programme in partnership with Music Generation Galway City, Foróige’s GoDigital, GoVirtual, and GoSonic programmes, and Tusla Family Services in Galway. This initiative used virtual reality (VR) to provide innovative youth work and music education. The programme engaged socially isolated young people who face barriers in accessing youth work services.