How UK organisations are using XR

We analyse which industries are adopting extended reality (XR) technologies, where, and for what purpose

Immersive technologies are evolving at a rapid rate and are transforming how businesses and public sector organisations operate, learn, communicate and collaborate.

Our economic impact report, Seeing is Believing, forecast a global GDP boost of US$1.5 trillion by 2030 due to immersive technologies. We’ve now analysed the current adoption of these technologies within the UK, providing a micro perspective on their value to business.

Our interactive map below allows you to visualise VR/AR adoption data by

Technology

Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) usage

Geography

Where VR/AR are being used across the UK regions

Industry

Which industries are adopting VR/AR technologies

Application

Why organisations are using VR/AR

Please select an option:

Darker colour indicates higher percentage

Technology

Application

Industry

Darker colour indicates higher percentage

“We’ve invested in creating a new virtual reality (VR) induction as an engaging way to provide education for on site safety.” —Scottish based engineering & manufacturing company

“We’ve developed a virtual reality tool aiming to engage pension scheme members to help them understand what impact their decisions (or lack of) might have on their quality of later life.” —London based professional services company

“We've created a fun Augmented Reality game that highlights to our customers the good, wholesome foods that go into each of our products.” —North West based retailer

“We’ve found engineering, manufacturing and retail organisations to be the most vocal about their use of immersive technologies. This makes sense when you consider that many manufacturers have been using such technologies since the early 2000s and retailers are keen to promote their investment in these technologies as a means of creating deeper connections with their customers.” —Jeremy Dalton, PwC UK Head of VR/AR

Research methodology

We have researched publicly available information on 2.2 million UK organisations, looking for examples of VR/AR use. After analysing 500 million points of data using a natural language processing (NLP) tool, our map has been populated based on examples we’ve identified via websites, press releases, social media messages and other public sources.

We’ve assigned every example to an industry, geography, technology (VR or AR) and application (use case). Sometimes organisations have used VR or AR for multiple purposes, or they’ve used a combination of VR and AR technology - each example is considered (and counted) separately in the analysis.

Submit your examples

Share examples of how an organisation is using virtual reality or augmented reality and we'll add it to the next version of our map, and any future global editions of the map we develop.

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Name of the organisation?*

Which industry group best fits the organisation?*

Where is the organisation headquartered?*

How is the organisation using VR/AR?*

Your first name

Your last name

Email Address*

Include a website link as evidence*

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