A report by Eirmersive CEO, Camille Donegan

What a whirlwind we had at SXSW London!

Arriving later than planned (thanks Ryanair!), I just caught the end of the inspiring and rousing presentation on AI by Karen Palmer at EIT Culture & Creativity house. Then to the Barbican Centre for In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats. Loved the 90s rave testimonial storytelling and particularly loved the Bop in the headset! Well done Darren Emerson and East City Films for blazing the trail and running this piece all summer with 4 x 4 simultaneous multi-users per session - a significant technical feat!

On Wed 4th June, Shoreditch Arts Centre was transformed to an epicenter of vibrant conversation on Immersive and Emerging technologies, and bringing creativity to industrial solutions.

Myself, Nigel McAlpine and Fiona Kilkelly were literally flying the Irish flag (check out our outfits!)

The day kicked off with…

Our FREE Immersive Futures Workshop is coming to Monaghan on June 24th! 

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! Sign up now via…

Bloomsday Festival 2025 starts this week and it provides a unique opportunity to step into the hidden history of Dublin’s infamous red-light district with Monto AR, an immersive augmented reality experience designed by our member Jennifer Shortall in partnership with another member, Imvizar.

Jennifer says, “For anybody with an interest in the historic part of Dublin known as Monto, if you'd like to see storied old buildings resurrected before your very eyes, or if you're just a bit curious about the notorious red-light district that thrived amongst the poverty-stricken slums of the 20th century docklands, or even if you just want to see how this whole Augmented Reality thing works... then head on over to book your tickets and join me for a lunchtime stroll around Monto AR.”

From the festival website:

”Users can access the experience for free on their personal mobile devices (phone, tablet, etc.) by downloading the Imvizar app and visiting the location. The app uses geolocation to identify when you are near one of its experiences. At…

Curated by Eirmersive member Jo Mangan of The Performance Corporationand presented by Dublin City Council Arts Office and The LAB Gallery in collaboration with Smart Dublin as part of Dublin Tech Week, Art, Tech and the City was described as “a brilliant collision of creativity, technology and civic imagination.”

The event invited artists, technologists, and SmartCity thinkers to explore how emerging technologies are reshaping storytelling, public engagement, and urban design.

Among the contributors was another member, Ciara Del Grosso Bates of The Immersive Agency who “offered a critical take on AI in the creative process and demoed an MR experience-in-progress with audio-reactive visuals and facial mocap”

Additional contributions came from Katie Richardson who shared her work in immersive spatial and binaural sound, exploring the emotional and narrative potential of audio in urban spaces. While Caoimhe Wandel-Brannigan explored…

It was truly fantastic to catch up with so many of our community at the Eirmersive Meetup in Mullingar on Wednesday evening. Massive thanks to (our new member) Irish Manufacturing Research for being a terrific host, and in particular to Del Greco for pulling out all the stops to ensure a terrific night of knowledge sharing, capped off by an absorbing tour of the facility which was eye-opening, fun. Between the 3D printers, the robots and the Mixed Reality greenroom, it was a dazzling look at some state-of-the-art technologies. Special thanks also to our amazing speakers - Niall Murray, Luke Porwol, Guillaume A. and Janet Beck who shone a light on EU funded XR projects, how Immersive tech is being used in humanitarian applications and to bring understanding to complex data in industry, how spatial technologies and AI Can revolutionise electronics design & development, and the latest advancements in Location-based immersive experiences.

A final thank you to everyone who attended, some of you who travelled long distances. You made it a wonderful evening of conversation and learning. So much so that we're already looking forward to doing it again!

KZero Worldswide is a global leader in Immersive Platforms consulting and a recognized thought leader, publishing market-defining reports.

Their latest report, the ‘Spatial Reality Market Map’, charts “the companies building the platforms, devices, interfaces and intelligence powering spatial computing's future”. And it’s a tremendous pleasure to see no less that four of our members included in the section on Consumer AR Applications and Experience.

Those companies are HoloToyz, Imvizar, Volograms and VRAI.

According to KZero founder Nic Mitham, this “This segment captures the vibrant innovation in consumer AR — from gaming and entertainment to social media filters, lifestyle utilities and emerging digital twin interfaces. This is where everyday users interact with spatial computing, often without even realising it — a powerful reminder that mass adoption happens when tech meets lifestyle, not just hardware.”

Well done to our members for literally putting Ireland on the map!

Congratulations to Glasseye for being selected to participate in the very first Immersive Market at Marché du Film - Festival de Cannes.

The brand-new event launched aboard the Art Explora — the world’s largest catamaran — docked in Cannes.

”Spanning 47m long, 18m wide, and crowned with a 55m mast, the Art Explora houses a spectacular 400m² event space for our new CuratorsNetwork — the perfect setting for bold ideas and international exchange. Throughout the week, immersive creators are connecting with 45 hand-picked curators from leading museums, cultural institutions, and themed venues — to pitch projects, spark new collaborations, and boost the global reach of immersive storytelling.”

Janet Beck, CEO at Glasseye thanks the organizers for hosting the event and, “for doing such a fantastic job matching immersive producers/creators like ourselves with curators and buyers from around the world for jam-packed days of meetings, networking events, and workshops”.

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.”