VIVEPORT is HTC VIVE’s digital storefront and subscription service. The firm operates the storefront to support distributing PCVR applications, games, and immersive videos across roughly 80 countries for its XR headset product portfolio user base.
To scale and support its storefront ecosystem, HTC also founded ‘VIVE for Developers,’ an online network of resources to educate individuals on developing immersive content.
HTC also operates ‘VIVE X,’ an accelerator fund which assists XR startups with scaling and distributing immersive content on the VIVEPORT storefront for global enterprise and consumer users.
The service is also working to provide a space for a range of enterprise end-users to adopt immersive applications that enhance workplace operations.
This week, Pearly Chen, the Head of Business Development & Content Partnerships at VIVEPORT, HTC VIVE, spoke with the World Economic Forum to discuss the emerging presence of XR and the Metaverse in the enterprise.
The Healthcare Sector is a Major XR Champion
According to Chen, doctors use XR in healthcare institutions to help with high-stakes decision-making, remarking, “this is one of my favourite examples of real-life value-add today. It’s not just about gaming entertainment; it’s something that can be done exponentially better using this immersive interface in artificial intelligence tools.”
Chen also explained that today, many healthcare professionals are still using 2D resources to assist with decision-making which means doctors still need to “construct three-dimensionally in their heads before conducting a critical surgery.”
XR can assist doctors with that internal 3D visualisation and eventual patient communication. XR can allow doctors to explore RT3D visualisation of medical images, helping doctors improve communication between co-workers and patients.
Chen added:
Through a tool like the surgical theatre that uses AI to take in all these different 2D medical images that is available today and build them into a three-dimensional anatomy that is patient-specific – the doctor can now go into the patient’s brain or hearts together with the patient and understand together and also have a better plan of surgery that increases the success of such an operation.
XR and The Metaverse, a Serious Tool for Healthcare Pros?
XR and Metaverse immersive solutions can also greatly assist in improving the patient experience, on top of its benefits for healthcare workplace decision-making.
Chen noted that immersive solutions could assist in easing patients into stressful surgeries or operations, “this really makes the patient experience not so scary anymore.”
The HTC VIVE Head also noted that when professionals leverage XR as a communication tool, doctors and patients can “viscerally” understand an upcoming procedure – while improving a doctor’s efficiency.
Chen explained that when a doctor and patient are immersed in an RT3D visualisation of anatomy, such as immersive models of MRI or CT scans, together, they can understand fundamental aspects of one’s health.
A doctor and patient can “understand where the tumour is, where the arteries are, what is a better incision point,” which significantly improves patient outcomes, says Chen.
Aside from serious medical procedures, XR can assist in mental and physical therapy considerations. Chen notes that doctors can deliver reliable services – commonplace in clinicians’ offices – digitally to a patient’s home, dramatically improving healthcare services’ access and efficiency.
A range of XR companies, big and small, can assist in this journey. Via digital storefronts like VIVEPORT, startups can operate alongside significant industry players to scale unique, purpose-built healthcare applications.
Chen explained that “so many different startups” are distributing tools for healthcare workers. The solutions can improve professional and student interactions across medical schools and hospitals “in a local scalable way” that increases patient outcomes.
Chen also said:
So there’s so many different ways that these start-ups that we back are really making an impact through their innovative products and go to market.
The HTC VIVE rep highlighted an example of startup success within the XR healthcare solutions provider space: Mind VR. The firm brings shared VR experiences into senior homes and assisted living environments to avoid isolation, mental unhappiness, anxiety, and depression.
XR as a Tool for Education
Chen explained that XR is an excellent tool for improving healthcare learning outcomes. Although this is not exclusive to healthcare, students from various professional disciplines can leverage XR solutions.
Chen added:
In terms of education again this is a very obvious use case of immersive media, because students are no longer learning with text or video where the retention rate of knowledge is much, much lower versus when you can live through and use all of your senses and body and interaction. The retention rate is as wide apart as 90 percent versus 5 and 10 percent.
According to Chen, high retention rates are a core aspect behind the enterprise-wide adoption of XR for staff training. “Simulation can add a layer of understanding and retention” across training, including procedure, hard-skill, and soft-skill-based enterprise learning, says Chen.
Enterprise-grade immersive modules can assist senior teams during learning operations, including leadership, hard conversations, empathy, and DEI training.
Although, immersive learning outcomes are not exclusive to enterprise clients. Education end-users can leverage XR today to engage with students to improve learning and retention expectations.
Chen also said:
This is a great platform of learning for learners of all ages, but when kids go into VR, everything is so natural for them. They touch things. They manipulate things. They understand things very easily without explanation. I feel like kids and actually senior people are surprisingly great target users of virtual reality.
Chen explains that for teachers, educators, and companies, XR content creation is becoming incredibly simple, meaning that education professionals can “readily create in a very low-effort way” immersive learning materials which they can customise to suit a chosen subject perfectly.
Moreover, education professionals, who are XR-ready, can provide repeatable learning content, which makes students “learn and accelerate with much, much better outcomes.”
Adopting XR in Enterprise
Chen noted that during the initial stages of enterprise XR adoption, XR champions must “quickly” think about inclusivity considerations, such as “how do we design the products and experience in a way that can be accessible by a broad range of people, even if they’re very much not in your obvious range of view?“
Moreover, Chen said senior employees “turn out to be great users” of XR, receiving direct benefits from immersive solutions. However, XR leads must consider design elements like form factor or weight so that workplace XR devices can benefit a broad demographic group.
