Virtual Reality: The Most Disruptive Technology of the Next Decade

This market will impact many different industries and its use cases wide-reaching and the technology will continue to innovate and accelerate innovation in these industries.

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Virtual reality has already had a major impact in a range of different industries. IDTechEx predicts in its recent market research report that this technology will grow to $8Bn by 2030. One way that virtual reality has been used is in planning. VR technologies have recently been shown by an article in the Financial Times to be used by the City of London Corporation to help with planning decisions for future office areas. Virtual reality will be a key technology of the next decade, with IDTechEx predicting that the augmented and virtual reality market will grow to over $30Bn by 2030.

The City of London collaboration was between the City of London Corporation, Innovate UK, New London Architecture (NLA) and VU.CITY. The level of detail captured by the project is down to a 2cm accuracy in a nearly 3km square area. This is a first for an area of this size, and aims to help planners realize what “plans offer in terms of space, enhancement of the public realm and to the City,” according to Alastair Moss, Chair of the Planning and Transportation Committee at the City of London Corporation. The ability to plan cities with VR technology will allow for more highly advanced urban planning solutions.

Virtual, augmented and mixed reality products have continued to receive high levels of funding and investment during the 2010 decade. This is predicted to continue into the next decade. IDTechEx forecasts that the AR/VR and MR to be over $30Bn by 2030. This market will impact many different industries and its use cases wide-reaching and the technology will continue to innovate and accelerate innovation in these industries.

IDTechEx has a range of market research reports covering virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality products. Part of the wearables portfolio, the parent report “Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality 2020-2030” and the detailed technology analysis of “Optics and Displays in AR, VR and MR 2020-2030: Technologies, Players and Markets” provide the key insights and deep analysis of this innovative technology for the next decade.  The detailed market research report “Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality 2020-2030” from IDTechEx reviews and analyzes over 100 products and details of over 80 companies, to create detailed conclusions about the future of this market. Alongside this, IDTechEx offers a second deeper dive report into the optics and display technologies in AR/MR/VR devices.

Key Questions answered in these two reports include:

  • What are the major drivers for optic or display choice in an AR/MR or VR device?
  • What are the major drivers in the adoption of AR/MR and VR devices? Which use cases benefit the most from this technology?
  • How will the sales of VR and AR/MR devices evolve from 2020-2030 and what are the drivers behind future growth?

What is the impact of COVID?

Recently the versatility of mixed and augmented reality products has come to the forefront of the news, with an Imperial led project at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. COVID has put the spotlight on this hands-free, interactive technology, and it is unlikely that this focus will move for some time. There will be a need for this technology in many new use cases, which previously did not require hands-free, or remote capabilities.          

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