The lack of professionals, the main challenge for virtual reality

“Virtual Reality is the most important thing that has happened to the content industry since the creation of Hollywood,” said Edgar Martín-Blas, CEO of New Horizons, at ESRV 2016.

Virtual Reality is on the crest of the wave. This technology was reaffirmed in its status as a revolution this Thursday in the Campus Madrid space where many of the leaders of this sector gathered both in Spain and internationally at the ESRV 2016 event, organized by U-tad.

HTC Vive, Oculus, PlayStation VR and Samsung Gear, the four devices that are making the most noise in the industry, were part of the experience space that accompanied the expert presentations. There, the more than 350 attendees were able to learn about the revolutionary applications that are using these tools in sectors as diverse as architecture, tourism or medicine, among many others.

“Virtual Reality is not a future, it is a thing of the present,” said Edgar Martín-Blas, CEO of New Horizons in his presentation. "It is something that is going to affect everything around us. It is simply the most important thing that has happened in the content industry since the creation of Hollywood."

Martín Blas highlighted the difficulty that the market has in meeting the demand for professionals to create content for Virtual Reality. One idea, the lack of experts trained in the subject, was highlighted by Laura Raya, director of the Expert Program in Virtual and Augmented Reality and the Master's Degree in Computer Graphics and Simulation: "There is a false belief that the developer is usually self-taught. They believe that by learning a little about technologies like Unity you can already access a professional position," she noted.

"Hopefully, that will open the doors for you, at most, to a junior position. But what companies are demanding and not filling are 'senior' positions, with more skills and training," analyzed Laura Raya, who concluded the importance of conceiving Virtual Reality from an educational and training point of view.

Laura Raya is the director of the InmersArte project, a revolutionary cultural experience developed by U-tad students and supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, which uses Oculus technology to introduce the user to paintings by Dalí or Bosch and which was shown yesterday.

According to data offered during the day, in the city of London alone there are more than 240 job offers related to Virtual Reality and that are not being filled due to "the lack of professionals." In Spain, today, in cities like Madrid or Barcelona there are more than twenty positions
vacancies in this matter.

Medicine, gaming and architecture were other aspects that were discussed at ESRV 2016. “It has given way to a new profession that we have defined as VR architects,” clarified Nacho Martín, founder of the architecture studio Mi5VR. "The biggest challenge is to find out and study how the user interacts with these new digital spaces. There aspects such as gravity do not govern as in the real world," he stated.

“It is the beginning of a new revolution in medicine,” said Dr. José Luis de la Serna, founder of Wake App Health. During his talk, he highlighted how it can be used for the treatment of some phobias or for the training of new health professionals. “Seeing lymphocytes attacking cancer cells makes you learn it forever,” he said.

Video games also had an important space. Not in vain do many point out that electronic entertainment will be the main driver of Virtual Reality, which could reach a market of more than 26.5 billion euros in 2020. Javier García-Lájara from LighthouseVR