Five Minutes With: Jeremy Dalton
We caught up with author and Head of XR at PwC, Jeremy Dalton.
“Five Minutes With” is a regular feature that gives you an insight into some of the greatest minds in the immersive industry, all within the time it takes to grab a cup of coffee.
Having spent many years campaigning within PwC about the business value of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology, Jeremy’s efforts led him to founding and running the XR team in the UK.
Based on his experiences of implementing this technology for organizations across a number of industries, he wrote Reality Check: How Immersive Technologies Can Transform Your Business, a book that anyone can pick up to gain an understanding of how virtual reality and augmented reality are being used in businesses everywhere.
Jeremy and his work with XR technology have since been featured in The Financial Times, The Economist, the BBC, and other media outlets. He speaks passionately all over the world about this technology as well as his experience of straddling two worlds — startup and corporation — to deliver the most valuable outcomes to large businesses.
He has worked with organizations like the World Economic Forum and currently sits on the advisory board of Immerse UK, a government-backed body to support businesses interested in immersive technologies.
What’s exciting you most about the immersive industry right now?
I know we say this every year but… we are at an inflection point in the immersive/XR industry — it’s just one that’s lasted for a few more years than we had hoped for! Standalone headsets have made it easier to scale the technology, costs have come down to manageable levels, and using VR has become as simple as putting on a headset. It’s boring stuff to people in XR but, while I’m excited about cutting edge developments in the industry, I’m more excited about mainstream adoption of the technology — and these are the advances that are having a significant impact on that.
What and/or who is your source of inspiration?
The many XR startups around the world pouring blood, sweat and tears into their companies. They are helping to spread the word on the value of XR and play a significant role in growing the industry to the benefit of us all.
What is your favourite thing about what you do for a living?
I get to be involved in business, creative and technical decisions relating to such a seemingly magical technology. From brainstorming scenes on narrative-heavy VR scripts, to dealing with the border regulations aftermath of distributing hundreds of headsets to individuals across the globe, it’s never a dull day!
Just for Fun!
What are you reading/listening to right now?
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Time travel. You could amass an unlimited amount of resources and attempt alternate paths on different decisions from the mundane to the critical. My only concern is that such a superpower would create an incredibly unhealthy obsession with perfection and remove all meaning from life choices if they can simply be reversed with ease. I can see this ending in a pretty dark spiral, so I think I’ve convinced myself that I’m fine with my unimpressive mortality.
What technology from a science fiction movie would you most like to have?
A decade ago, I might have described the augmented reality technology in Minority Report 😉 Nowadays, I’m looking a little further ahead to brain-computer interfaces — would it be too dystopian of me to want to see SQUIDs* from Strange Days become reality?
Whilst you’re here, is there anything you’d like to plug?
You can get in touch with me at www.JeremyDaltonXR.com. To hear more about my book, Reality Check, head to www.RealityCheckXR.com.
XRLO: eXtended Reality Lowdown is brought to you by REWIND, an immersive design and innovation company. If you want to talk tech, ideas, and the future, get in touch here.
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