Immersive technologies bring us closer to the sci-fi movies. Virtual worlds and holograms are only two examples of what Immersive Technologies can accomplish. We understand these developments as an industrial sector in their own right so we built a dataset to analyse the industry. We found 868 companies working in the field of Immersive Tech following our proprietary taxonomy, and we will be outlining what we learnt in this post.
Immersive Technologies industry verticals
Our industrial data is characterised by distinguishing industry verticals or taxonomy groups, and classifying companies accordingly. The bar chart below represents the size of each group.
We find that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are the technologies most companies engage with. In contrast, mixed reality (MR) and 360° imagery tech are the smaller segments. This shows that VR and AR are the most in demand immersive technologies which is evidential in the growing number of VR venues and AR mobile apps. However, it is relevant to highlight the close relationship and overlap between these technologies.
The diagram shows the interrelations among taxonomy groups. VR, for instance, has a total of 697 connections with other groups, although the vertical only captured 585 companies. This “inflated” value is explained by the method we use to quantify relationships. The diagram visualises relationships according to how many times a company has been captured in more than one segment. Therefore, if a company in VR was also captured in AR and MR, it will be represented in both AR’s and MR’s chords. The diagram defines Immersive Technologies as a remarkably relational industry, especially for VR and AR.
Immersive Tech in other sectors
Immersive Tech also shows close engagement with other RTICs. Our data suggests that Immersive Tech shares at least one company with 16 other RTICS, indicating the relevance across other emergent economies. Immersive Tech shares a largest number of companies (216) with Gaming which leads us to conclude that Gaming is increasingly applying immersive technologies.
We found 556 companies referencing marketing or advertising on their website text and 498 mentioning learning or training. This give us an indication of the main markets for Immersive Tech and allows us to identify key companies like ARVRTech or Gibson Martelli.
Mapping Immersive Technologies
We have already observed that Immersive Tech is relevant for other industrial sectors. Therefore, the more information we have on these technologies, the better we will understand development in other sectors. For this reason, we have prepared an interactive choropleth map. This map allows you to explore how many companies are located within local authority boundaries.
The map informs us Immersive Tech is concentrated in London. However, local authorities like Brighton and Hove, Leeds and Manchester also host a significant number of Immersive Tech companies. Interestingly, this map seems to contradict previous research that identified Bristol as the main hot spot for the sector.
Wrapping up Immersive Technologies
Our work in Immersive Tech allowed us to make three main statements. One, its technology verticals are highly relational among themselves. Two, they are being applied to other sectors, disrupting key practices. Three, our previous understanding of the geography may need further work. We’re looking forward to updating our knowledge on Immersive Tech and comparing it with the existing understanding of the sector.