Hedmark University of Applied Sciences, Hedmark County, and local industry joined these municipalities to establish a strong regional Augmented Virtual Reality development presence.
IRVINE, CA, December 13, 2016 – EON Reality Inc., the world leader in Virtual Reality based knowledge transfer for industry, education, and edutainment, today announces a partnership between the Municipalities of Elverum and Hamar, Hedmark County, and Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences to establish EON Reality Norway, a Norwegian Interactive Digital Center (IDC), that will help address local and regional development needs through Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). These parties are interested in establishing and strengthening courses provided in Hamar and Elverum focusing on interactive media, entrepreneurship, and health technology as well as spurring regional economic development.
The signing of the EON Reality Norway Contract, Left to Right: Ronny Pedersen (CEO Innit), Mikael Jacobsson (VP EON Reality), Morten Vendstad (CEO Crisis Training), Morten Ørbæk (Dean, Faculty of Education an Natural Sciences), Erik Hanstad (Mayor of Elverum), Einar Busterud (Mayor of Hamar), Thomas Breen (County Commissioner of Hedmark), Are Vindfallet (CEO Making View).
EON Reality Norway will provide much needed Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality infrastructure to the region to help local corporate partners expand their offerings in 360 degree video production, crisis training, and IT solutions. Also, the IDC will train new Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality professionals with its EON Entrepreneur School to grow the local VR/AR economy and empower graduates to start their own VR and AR companies.
“We have been working for several years in order to establish partnership that will lift our regional advantages, and contribute to growth in the area,” said Knut Aas, CEO of Elverum Regional Business Development. “Our goal is that this will create jobs, improve educational opportunities, and create a significant amount of highly qualified personnel, prepared for future knowledge transfer using EON-XR, in our region within few years.”
The city of Hamar where part of the IDC will be located in Hedmark County.
“It is with great appreciation that Hedmark has been chosen as the location for EON Reality’s first IDC set-up in Scandinavia,” said Thomas Breen, Hedmark County Commissioner. “The establishment of an EON Reality Interactive Digital Center will provide interesting job opportunities and environments for knowledge and technology which will raise the region’s overall attractiveness.”
This IDC represents EON Reality’s second location in Scandinavia, with the first being EON Reality’s development office located in Gothenburg, Sweden. EON Reality Norway joins EON Reality’s global distribution and development network with locations in Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.
“We are extremely excited to open our first Interactive Digital Center in Scandinavia,” said Dan Lejerskar, Chairman of EON Reality. “Hedmark County is the perfect location for this new IDC and will benefit from the local game development community and Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. Together we can build a thriving Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality ecosystem that will support local, regional, and global initiatives.”
Elverum is interested in using AR and VR to expand their teaching in health and health sciences.
“At EON Reality we like to partner with forward thinking communities that want to develop the infrastructure to support the industries of tomorrow,” said Mikael Jacobsson, Vice President of Business Development at EON Reality. “The communities of Hamar and Elverum, as well as Hedmark County and Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences have shown us their commitment to the future and we are honored to be a part of a shared goal to develop a local Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality ecosystem. We think we can make an immediate impact in the areas of health and entrepreneurship.”
EON Reality Norway will open it’s doors in the second quarter of 2017 and the EON Entrepreneur School will begin accepting applications at the end of February 2017. For more details on the timing of the first student intake and the inauguration of the IDC, please check www.eonreality.com.
About EON Reality
EON Reality is the world leader in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) based knowledge transfer for industry, education, and edutainment. EON Reality’s success is tied to its belief that knowledge is a human right and should be available, accessible, and affordable for every human on the planet. To carry this out, EON Reality, since 1999, has developed the de-facto standard for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality based knowledge transfer software that supports devices from mobile phones to large immersive domes. EON Reality’s global app development network, with twenty-two locations worldwide, has created the world’s leading AR/VR library for knowledge transfer with over 7,000 applications. Over 36 million people worldwide have downloaded these applications. For further information, visit www.eonreality.com.
