Taiwan electronics giant HTC will use a system developed by a Waterford company to hold its virtual reality conference this year after the physical event was threatened by the spread of the coronavirus.
VR Education, a virtual reality technology company, said it will host HTC’s Vive Ecosystem conference due to be held on March 19th to allow the event proceed as planned, albeit on a virtual platform.
HTC has previously revealed new hardware and features at the conference, held in China, for its Vive virtual reality headset devices.
In a stock market update on Monday, VR Education said it believes this will be the first conference ever to be transferred into virtual reality, “enabling a global audience without travel”.
Opportunity
The company, listed in Dublin and London, noted that while there is no monetary value to this agreement, it provides them with an “excellent opportunity to showcase the exciting capabilities of our Engage platform”.
"We view the tangible benefits of HTC's selection of Engage as furthering brand awareness with key industry players, driving wider adaptation of VR and increasing product demand," said Davy analyst Shane Reilly. Davy is the company's joint broker.
Speakers for the HTC event will be located in China, Taiwan, France, the UK and the US and will communicate their presentations in virtual reality over VR Education's Engage platform.
"Coronavirus continues to impact us all and we feel that by hosting this conference virtually we can mitigate some of the disruption that it has and continues to cause businesses globally," said David Whelan, chief executive of VR Education.
