Tagline
Democratizing hands-on training
Pitch us on your solution
Our brain is not built to memorize things we read, it is built to
learn by doing. Still, the main way to learn a new work task is to read
manuals. This leads to massive costs for companies and limits the work opportunities for people around the world.
Virtual reality (VR) training has been proven to effectively upskill
employees and save costs for industry companies. However, it is
currently too expensive to provide interactive VR training at scale. At Gleechi, we have developed the first scalable solution to enable VR training and certification for staff in industry. Our software is based on extensive research at the Royal Institute of Technology and enables interactive hands-on training in VR. The solution has been proven to significantly enhance performance among staff, reduce injuries and enable people with autism and ADHD to learn new tasks more efficiently.
What is the problem you are solving?
Every year, billions are spent on machine downtime and workplace injuries caused by human errors. A whole generation of experienced workers is retiring while new employees need in average 2 years of training to get self-propelled. By 2020 12% of all jobs in EU and US will remain within manufacturing.
One of the primary ways employers train employees is through manuals and videos, despite the fact that most people learn better by doing. VR training has been proven to effectively upskill employees, certify their competence and save costs for industry companies. However, customized VR implementations has until now been costly and time consuming.
Who are you serving?
We will start focusing on the manufacturing sector where we have identified 42 million employees in the manufacturing sector that would benefit from the solution. The solution will help ensure that staff knows how to handle dangerous situations. This will in turn both save money and lives by avoiding accidents and unnecessary downtime.
Further, the solution will in particular benefit people with different learning patterns, including people with neuropsychiatric disorders and dyslexia. With the help of VR training, a person can practice a job or a task in an intuitive way. A job seeker can prove that he or she is able to perform the task - and thus be hired or promoted based on what he or she is able to do, not by other factors, such as how you perform in an interview. This will in turn help a large part of the population that have traditionally had a hard time getting and learning new jobs. To meet the demands of people with different patterns to learning, we have, among else, conducted one the largest studies on how to design VR experience to optimize learning for different people, in which we included people with ADHD, Autism and Dyslexia.
What is your solution?
VirtualGrasp is the first product to enable VR-training that is adapted the customer's needs in a scalable way. With VirtualGrasp a manufacturing company gets access to a VR training application that enables the employees to practice in a natural and realistic way on how to operate the machines, specifically adapted the the company's manufacturing environment. We have standardized core components of the VR development process to be able to create customized VR training applications in an efficient way by re-using learning models and automating technical components. Our software VirtualGrasp automates the complex process of enabling interactivity in the training simulations. The technology is based on 8 years of robotics research and is the first of its kind.
Not only have we proven that VR is a great way for existing staff in the industry to learn, but we have also made a large study about enabling VR for people with disabilities. In this study we found that VR is an efficient tool for people with neuropsychiatric disorders as well as people with dyslexia to learn and get new jobs.
Select only the most relevant.
Where our solution team is headquartered or located:
Stockholm, SverigeOur solution's stage of development:
PilotDescribe what makes your solution innovative.
Our technology is the first to enable natural and realistic hand interaction in VR. It is based on 8 years of awarded robotics research at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. The technology has been proven to enhance the memorization ability for people training in VR with over 54%. By combining our interaction engine with a standardized learning framework, we are able to create interactive, realistic and pedagogical training experiences in VR. The solution has been built together with leading research institutes in Sweden and France, and been tested and proven with global manufacturing companies.
Why do you expect your solution to address the problem?
Activities: Learn by doing with the help of VR.
Output: Proven in ours as well as external research to result in more efficient learning for everyone, including people with disabilities.
Short term outcome: Reduced time spent in training, reduction of injuries, reduced downtime. More concrete approach to prove employee's skills.
Medium term outcomes: Reduction of bias in recruitment and certification. Reduced inequality in recruitment.
Long term outcomes: Better opportunities for everyone to prove their skills, learn new skills and get new jobs. Improved opportunities for people with disabilities, including ADHD, Autism and Dyslexia on the job market.
Select the key characteristics of the population your solution serves.
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
How many people are you currently serving with your solution? How many will you be serving in one year? How about in five years?
1. 3 000 workers worldwide
2. 20 000
3. 2 500 000
What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?
Our vision is to build a simple and scalable way for people to use Virtual Reality for learning.
Our initial focus is on the manufacturing industry to generate large cost savings. Within 3 years we aim to expand the solution to other industries with complex practical tasks, including healthcare, maintenance among others. Within 5 years we aim to expand the solution to non-practical tasks, including education.
What are the barriers that currently exist for you to accomplish your goals for the next year and for the next five years?
A key barrier is the slow adoption of Virtual Reality technology among companies worldwide. The effect of VR has been proven in a plethora of research as well as commercial use cases. However, many companies are still careful with implementing the technology in their organizations. The challenge stems from two different areas:
1. VR training has generally been sold as a one-off project based on the cost of implementation, leading to high CAPEX costs for the clients, increasing the risk.
2. The technology is new and clients face challenges in evaluating the potential and the return on investment.
How are you planning to overcome these barriers?
1. We have developed a software platform based on our hand interaction technology that makes it easy and scalable to implement VR training. This way we are able to offer VR training as a subscription model, rather than a one-off CAPEX. This approach reduces the risk for the client, which results in faster adoption.
2. We have developed a test and verification system to make it possible to evaluate the effect of the VR training. With the system the client first takes their staff through a VR testing phase and identify the knowledge gaps. Secondly, the client takes the staff through the VR training. Finally, the improved competence is tested in a final testing phase 2 weeks after the training, resulting in a quantitative result of the competence increase, making it possible to calculate the potential impact over time.
Select one.
If you selected “My solution is already being implemented in one or more of ServiceNow’s primary markets,” please provide an overview of your current activities in those markets.
We have clients and partners in France and Germany (CEA, Saint-Gobain, ATOS and Siemens). We initally focus expansion across additional countries in Europe and North America, specifically targeting the manufacturing industry. We hope to partner with companies such as ServiceNow to accelerate the sales geographically.
Within 3 years we aim to expand the solution to other industries with complex practical tasks, including healthcare, maintenance among others.
If you selected “I am planning to expand my solution to one or more of ServiceNow’s primary markets,” please provide an overview of your expansion plans. What is the market opportunity for your business or product here?
If you have additional video, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link to your video here:
Select an option below:
For-ProfitHow many people work on your solution team?
17 full-time staff.
For how many years have you been working on your solution?
5 years as a startup + 8 years in research.
Why are you and your team best-placed to deliver this solution?
We combine world-leading researchers in the field of interaction with awarded entrepreneurs. We have a team from 11 different countries, working together in Sweden with a combination of expertise from Machine Learning, Game Development, Pedagogics and Entrepreneurship.
Our team has, among else:
- Over 30 published papers in the field of interaction.
- Been awarded for best research at IEEE.
- Been awarded as one of Swedens 33 hottest startups by renowned business magazine Ny Teknik (2018 & 2019).
- CEO awarded as MIT Technology Review's on of Europes top 35 "Innovators under 35".
- Been awarded by the European Union as one of Europes top 50 startups.
With what organizations are you currently partnering, if any? How are you working with them?
We collaborate with world leading industry companies in developing our product to solve their challenges, including Saint-Gobain, Siemens, Scania, ABB, FLIR among others.
We collaborate with research institutes such as CEA and RISE SICS to develop a high quality pedagogical framework.
We collaborate with leading education providers in Sweden including Lernia to build a relevant training format.
We hope to expand our collaboration with ServiceNow to further enhance our product as well as to bring it to companies around the world.
What is your business model?
Our software is sold a subscription model based on the number of users and the amount of usage. The client pays a fee based on the number of training rooms and the number of simultaneous users.
What is your path to financial sustainability?
We are funded by external investors and we aim to be cash flow positive in 2 years.
Why are you applying to the Digital Workforce Challenge?
Virtual Reality has been proven to be able to fundamentally change
and improve how people will acquire skills in the future. We have
already started exploring how VR can be used to help people with
disabilities to get new jobs as well as learn new tasks. Now we need to bring this technology to people and companies all over the world.
We believe that ServiceNow can help us in developing a solution and a business model that speeds up the implementation of VR for customers and users. Further, we believe that ServiceNow's network and credability can help us increase the phase at which we bring the technology to new receivers, speeding up the adoptation of VR worldwide.
What types of connections and partnerships would be most catalytic for your solution?
With what organizations would you like to partner, and how would you like to partner with them?
Education providers.
IT software suppliers.
Trade Unions.
Solution Team
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Jakob Way CEO, Gleechi
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Our Solution
Gleechi