5 minutes with...@SXSW2017 Mar 10, 2017

Servus meets Howdy – Five minutes with… Holodeck, members of the Bavarian delegation at SXSW

Holodeck is another start-up, that, like numerous other Bavarian and international companies, is travelling to Austin in Texas this year too to present, get to know and find out about the latest developments in the interactive, film and music industry at SXSW. In a special, short “Five minutes with...” series, CEO and co-founder Jonathan Nowak answered our questions.

Holodeck develops virtual reality solutions, which can be used by up to 100 people at the same time in an area as large as four football pitches. The start-up relies on a large market in the gaming and entertainment sectors, as well as in the industry and trade fair sectors.


You will be at SXSW for the first time. What are you most looking forward to?

SXSW addresses all relevant aspects of media technology and is therefore the perfect platform to present our vision as well as bring new inspiration back to Nuremberg and Munich. In particular, the international environment plays a very large role here, because it will surely show us additional perspectives which are different from ours. The lectures / sessions will give us important insights for future plans. Most of all, we are, of course, looking forward to presenting our own ideas and visions.

Which programme item do you want to attend without fail or is there someone who you definitely want to meet?

First, we are especially looking forward to the SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event, because here, the competition and experts will present and demonstrate the newest advancements and developments in technology. Further, in the AR/VR division, we are especially interested in the VR sessions. In addition, the mentoring sessions will undoubtedly be very interesting, because there are not yet any assured findings about the direction in which virtual reality will be developed. Consequently, here as well, the various perspectives and new findings in this sector will be extremely worthwhile.
Of course, we are also looking forward to the events outside the sessions and panels, because here in particular, new, important contacts can be made, in association with fun.

You’re allowed to present your company there too. How are you preparing for this?

With Dr. Stephan Otto, our technology expert, we are extremely well-prepared for extremely various enquiries. We are bringing four pairs of VR glasses with us and have prepared different games in order to pitch them to potential investors.

What are your objectives for SXSW? How should the conference take your company forwards?

For us, SXSW serves as a platform for us to present ourselves internationally and distinguish ourselves from the competition. Of course, we hope to have contact with potential new investors as well as have additional PR. In addition to that, we are also looking forward to seeing new experiences and trends from the industry.

Virtual reality is one of the large topics at SXSW and many start-ups from the sector will be represented there. How do you differentiate yourself from them?

In particular, we are different from other VR start-ups due to the size of our holodeck. As was mentioned in your description, we have small, medium, and large holodecks. The large one is up to 40,000 square metres in size, which gives us the chance to work with up to 100 users. This gives the player a new experience of immersion and in doing so, gives us the chance to serve an even more diverse customer sector. Through our connection to Fraunhofer IIS, we also have top access to hundreds of patents, excellent (research) resources and profitable proof of concepts.

 

The other start-ups from the Bavarian delegation have also answered our questions and reported on their aims and expectations for SXSW in Austin. Interested in what´s going on in Austin? Visit #bytevaria news.