BAU News - Founded in BAU Galata Campus with the cooperation of Bahçeşehir University (BAU) and CRYTEK, VR1 BAU celebrated its first year as the first university investment in Turkey in the field of virtual reality.
In the event where the first year of the first one of its kind in Turkey and in the world, VR1 BAU was celebrated, innovations in virtual reality in the world and in Turkey, VR1 BAU's virtual reality projects implemented in Istanbul, 2016 statistics and 2017 targets were shared. Participants also had the chance to experience virtual reality projects, which included representatives of firms in the industry.
"WE WANT TO EXPAND GLOBALLY"
VR1 BAU Laboratories Board Member Güven Çatak, who explained the past, today, and future of VR1 BAU, said "Last year we launched with the slogan, 'We are not late this time'. We believe that domestic brands will emerge from the applications we make this year, especially in gaming and education. In fact, we don’t want to remain domestic, we want to expand globally. We think that this kind of products will come out of this laboratory because it is an area that we started to work on at the same time as the world."
A TECHNOLOGY BUILT ON EXPERIENCE
Çatak said that they wanted to introduce this technology to people at first, and commented; "Because it is a technology based on experience, it is not enough to describe it. It is a technology that attracted the attention of the sector as well as our young, designer, developer, and artist friends, and we welcomed and hosted many companies here.”
THE FIRST YEAR HAS PASSED WITH R&D STUDIES
Stating that the sector wants to do a lot of things in this area but that the technology is very new and requires patience, Çatak said; "This technology has not reached the consumers at the desired level at this moment. The past year has been mostly on research and development, but this year we think that products related to virtual reality will meet with consumers."
IN WHICH AREAS WILL WE SEE VR PRODUCTS MOSTLY?
Making evaluations on what areas VR product projects will cover mostly, Çatak said, "There will be many new projects in the gaming industry. Facebook is among the brands that are making investments in this field. We think that works in social media on this topic will begin as well. In education, it seems that virtual reality products will be highly used. We think that this technology can be offered as a solution to equal opportunity in education. Of course, first of all, this technology needs to be widespread and cheap.”
2017 WILL BE A YEAR OF PRODUCTION FOR VR1 BAU
Providing information about the projects that has developed during the past year, Çatak said:
"There are gamification projects in the entertainment sector. There are research and development projects. For example, there is a project on phobia treatment. There is a project on language education. Virtual reality is thought to play an important role, especially in distance education. We even have a project even on viniculture. 2016 passed by establishing a committee, introducing people with this technology, and giving trainings. This year, VR1 BAU will be transformed into a production line. We hope that 2017 will be a year of more projects and success stories."