May 8

»The applications of AR/VR/MR are endless«

Michael Nassirian is a visionary entrepreneur, consultant and investor, who is on the cutting-edge of disruptive solutions in AR, VR, and Artificial Intelligence. He believes that early adoption is the key to corporate success in these areas. And what is the key to building trust and transparency for human interaction with these new technologies? With Application robustness, cybersecurity and Data Integrity.
 
MR. Nassirian, VR/AR/MR provide unique tools that can be used by companies in decision-making or simulations of products. They even allow the companies to create products in 3D space so that the team and potential customers can interact with the products before they're even produced. These are certainly amazing possibilities for companies. How can large corporations make the most of these developing technologies?

 
As you noted in your question, the applications of AR/VR/MR are endless. Today large and mid-size corporations are using these technologies in training, design, prototyping, and remote assistance among many other applications. With the introduction of newer designs and as more affordable devices are entering the market, we’ll see higher adoption of these technologies and more robust applications going forward.  Early adoption is the key to the corporate success in this area, it’ll enable companies to evolve their tools and infrastructure to these technologies as they’re being developed.
 
What are the largest opportunities that are opening up in this area for startups?
 
I believe the sky is the limit. Several industries such as Automotive, Gaming, Medical, Tourism, and Training are moving faster than others. As more tools and devices are introduced to the market, it’ll enable startups to innovate in a faster pace. I’ll stay away from Hardware and concentrate on Software and special apps, this will have higher ROI.

Your expertise extends also to the area of AI and machine learning. What key synergies between startups and corporations do you see in this area?
 
Startups are filling the technological gaps for the corporations. In-depth knowledge of corporate investment in AI, enables startups to have a better understanding of these gaps and invest in solutions around them.
 
How to build trust and transparency for human interaction with these new technologies?
 
Application robustness, cybersecurity, Data Integrity are some of the high-level areas I can think of. There is not a day goes by that we don’t hear about data bridge or cyber-attack on a large data center, and it’s not getting better as we move our data and algorithms to the cloud.
 
You are also an investor and a startup mentor. According to your experience, what is the most important factor for a startup's success?
 
Team, Time to Market, and flexibility.
Building a strong team is the main key in the success of any startup. You can have a great idea and a fantastic product, but if you don’t have the right expertise     you cannot recognize the full potential of your efforts.
Another factor is time to market. You should have a great understanding of the ecosystem and time your product to the market accordingly.
Finally, all startups should be flexible enough to adjust their product and deliverables to the market demand. Don’t get married to your idea.
 
What is your industry bet for the next decade or so - where would you put your money?
 
AI, Cybersecurity, and Energy –
The pace of adoption in AI is increasing exponentially and as we improve the security of our data, we’ll see more innovation and development in this area. Today the bottleneck is security, it’s a fundamental problem and does not have an easy solution. We’re making progress in this area but we’re far from being secure.
Energy is an ongoing problem and most developed countries are looking at alternative energy. As the population grows (9 Billion by 2040), this problem will become bigger. We need to invest in alternative energy source, NUCLEAR??
 
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
 
Michael Nassirian is a visionary entrepreneur, consultant and investor from Seattle, USA. Through his career Michael worked for two tech giants Texas Instruments and Microsoft. His last three years at Microsoft he worked as Partner Quality Manager and Architect in Windows Analog Division where he played a major role in developing HoloLens. Today his main focus is mentoring and investing in companies that are part of established B2B accelerator 9Mile Labs.
 
As a quality architect and visionary leader he built, inspired and worked with teams that created products for the US and International markets. He is on the cutting-edge of disruptive solutions in AR, VR, and Artificial Intelligence and is excited to bring pioneering strategies to complex issues.
 
With his extensive knowledge in software quality, reliability standards, automation tools and his experience in new product development he is involved with startups from those first product concepts to the final polished product.
 
The interview about the opportunities brought by AR/VR/MR, AI and machine learning in the field of Materials & Manufacturing was made possible by KOLEKTOR, PODIM Challenge blue-chip partner.

Michael Nassirian will be a keynote speaker at this year's PODIM Conference.