Thanks to its IPO in March which raised £6 million GBP, VR Education Holdings not only managed to fund projects like Titanic VR, but also further develop its proprietary VR education platform, ENGAGE. Today, the company has announced the launch of version 1.0 for commercial use.
This initial release of ENGAGE supports HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets with devices such as the Oculus Go, Vive Focus and Google DayDream to be added in the new year.
In development since 2015, ENGAGE has been designed to overcome certain aspects of online courses and traditional learning methods. The platform allows for virtual face-to-face education and training in a variety of environments regardless of the geographical location of the user, with one of its key components being the ability for educators and trainers to use the software to create their own VR lessons and presentations.
“The full release of ENGAGE is a transformational moment in our corporate history and is the result of many years of hard work, cutting-edge research and innovation,” said David Whelan, CEO of VR Education in a statement. “People today all over the world say let’s SKYPE when talking about online communications and meetings. In the future we want people to say let’s ENGAGE and enter VR to communicate in a more natural way.”
VR Education has already partnered with Nokia Corporation and Shenandoah University, with them testing the pre-release versions of the ENGAGE platform before signing up to commercial agreements. Intel is currently promoting the ENGAGE platform throughout the US as part of the Tech Learning Lab initiative which will be touring Europe and the UK soon.
“Although significant revenues are not expected to be generated from the ENGAGE platform until general adoption of VR and AR increases over the next two to three years, I am nonetheless delighted that both Nokia and Shenandoah University have signed commercial agreements. Being aligned to global leaders like these institutions demonstrates the potential and need for the platform,” Whelan adds.
And thanks to partnerships with the BBC, the University of Bristol, the University of Oxford and the University of New Haven, the content VR Education has helped create will immediately be available on the platform.
You can check out VR Education’s VR projects at home by downloading Titanic VR or Apollo 11 VR HD. For any further updates, keep reading VRFocus.