Plans Unveiled for National Virtual Reality Complex

MEDIA RELEASE: September 5, 2016

Plans Unveiled for National Virtual Reality Complex

Work has started to set up a national virtual and augmented reality complex in Wellington, its newly-appointed centre director has revealed.

Jessica Manins says the complex, named ProjectR, will bring together the nation’s top businesses and researchers to develop and test world-first uses for virtual and augmented reality.

Virtual reality is a 3D computer-generated simulation of real life, which the user is immersed in digitally. Augmented reality superimposes digital information on the world around us, such as holograms.

Manins says both technologies have a huge range of applications, including entertainment, business, medicine, education, architecture and government.

A feasibility study for ProjectR has begun, which will include developing designs for the state-of-the-art complex, and has been funded by some Wellington-based IT and technology businesses, who are collaborating on the project.

Discussions about the complex are ongoing with industry groups, tertiary institutions and businesses, Manins says.

“We want to make sure it’s fully collaborative and that we’ve talked to all the right people before firmer decisions on structure and capability are made.”

The current goal is to get operational on an initial site this month and have the complex’s full facilities in place by early next year. Designs for the state-of-the-art complex are being developed at present with initial plans to include two demonstration theatres, a start-up software suite with tools to create new applications, a conference room and desks for about 24 people.

Manins, the former regional director at Wellington techhub BizDojo, has hands-on knowledge of industry collaboration, a vital feature of the proposed reality centre. She has also spent almost a decade with online talent startup StarNow, so is familiar with the development process, developers, project management and strategic business skills that are needed to oversee work to bring ProjectR to life.

“This new national virtual and augmented reality centre will boost the capital’s reputation as an internationally acclaimed hub of digital innovation,” says Manins.

“It will cement the film and gaming industries in Wellington, foster global partnerships, attract overseas talent and create jobs,” she says.

She says the need to develop such a centre is highlighted in July by the report, ‘Unleashing New Zealand’s Potential – Faster’, which contains comments by Spark’s managing director Simon Moutter on accelerating New Zealand’s technological progress.

Virtual reality company 8i cofounder and chief executive, Linc Gasking, is supportive of the proposed centre.

"Wellington is already a hub for visual effects talent and technology startups. ProjectR would be a welcomed addition to help cement the city as a global centre of innovation for the next digital frontier,” he says.

Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA) agrees, saying ProjectR will also create jobs and investment, attract international students and enable collaboration between the tertiary, industry and corporate worlds.

“Over the past few years, virtual and augmented reality have emerged as a speciality of the capital’s tech and screen sectors, and ProjectR is the next logical step in growing capability, driving innovation and showing what’s possible in this new world,” WREDA business growth and innovation general manager David Jones says.

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