Five Minutes With: Sol Rogers
We spoke to Sol Rogers, CEO/Founder of REWIND, Chair of BAFTA Immersive Entertainment Advisory Group, and the Chair of the Immerse UK Advisory Board.
“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.
Sol Rogers is CEO and Founder of REWIND, a real-time spatial experience company focused on fusing the digital and physical worlds to create new and memorable experiences. A leading figure in the industry, Sol is the Chair of the BAFTA Immersive Entertainment Advisory Group and the Chair of Immerse UK, working to ensure that the UK becomes the global leader in immersive technologies. He is also an advisor to global awards and conferences. Prior to founding REWIND, Sol was a senior university lecturer for 15 years in digital animation, VFX & emerging technology. Sol is a respected VR evangelist and prominent international keynote speaker, often quoted in the press and on TV.
2021: what are you looking forward to within the immersive industry?
I’m looking forward to the immersive industry really accelerating and becoming mainstream. Over the last five years, we’ve been proving the quality of immersive content and what the industry can do to change businesses. However, it’s often been very niche. Through the impact of the pandemic, we’re seeing this amazing uptick in the use of immersive technologies to enable humanity to continue its trajectory by connecting people and places around the world in new ways.
How has the pandemic impacted your business?
The impact of the pandemic across all industries has been substantial. Sadly, it means that many businesses have been struggling, although some have also been propelled forward.
Luckily, with REWIND being a digital-first studio, we’ve actually been able to ride the pandemic moderately well. We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly people adapted, remained productive, and enjoyed working from home. Of course, this also came with huge operational challenges for the business and personal challenges for individuals as these are not normal times, but it opened our eyes to how the studio could operate on an ongoing basis.
Recently, we announced that the work from home arrangement for staff will continue permanently for those who want it to. Employees are enabled and encouraged to either work remotely, work from the St. Albans office (when it is allowed to re-open), or combine a mix of the two to suit their working preferences and personal needs, giving the team flexibility and stability to be able to plan for their future.
The decision was based on feedback in which nearly three-quarters of employees expressed an interest in working remotely full or part-time after their experience during the pandemic. But, the move is also in line with our belief that the future of reality is hybrid. We wanted to move beyond the bricks-and-mortar office and create more working options for our team post-pandemic.
The flexible policy has also dramatically opened up a talent pool. We’re hiring at the moment and 60% of new starters are going fully remote.
What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?
The advice I’d give is very simple: you get out of the world what you give to it.
The energy you put into your work, your education, your family, and your friends comes back to you. If you want the world to give you something, you have to think about how you need to engage with the world to reciprocate that energy.
What and/or who is your source of inspiration?
My identical twin boys! I have 2-year-old twin boys who are my constant source of inspiration.
What is your favourite thing about what you do for a living?
Firstly, the ability to enable a great set of people to do amazing work — I really enjoy the camaraderie and culture that we’ve built at REWIND. Secondly, solving hard technical problems that have never been cracked before is really exciting!
Just for fun!
What piece of technology from a sci-fi movie would you like to have?
Star Trek transporter, obviously! The ability to move physically to anywhere else on the planet instantly would be like having a superpower and it would help to reduce my carbon footprint.
What podcast are you listening to right now?
I’m re-listening to the Fake Doctors, Real Friends podcast with the two guys from Scrubs. It’s a great light in these dark months!
What’s your favourite day of the week, and why?
Saturday mornings with the twins. It’s just me and them building train tracks, it’s great.
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.
Your claps and follows help us understand what our readers like. If you liked our articles, show them some love! ❤️
We’d also love to hear from you. If you’re passionate about all things XR, you can apply to contribute to XRLO here. ✍️
