THIS IS FREMANTLE Aspire Award winner represents Freo amongst XR’s brightest minds

Last year’s THIS IS FREMANTLE Aspire Award winner Natalie Marinho recently returned from the Augmented World Expo in California, the world's leading industry event for professionals working in Extended Reality (XR).

Ms Marinho is the founder of Fremantle-based Voyant Augmented Reality and was the successful recipient of the 2023 THIS IS FREMANTLE Aspire Award, enabling her to attend an international business event of her choice for professional development purposes.

She shares her highlights and learnings from the conference.

What were the key takeaways from the conference sessions?

The Keynotes were incredibly optimistic about the future of XR and included informative statistics/reports of how much the sector has grown and continues to grow.

Most of the sessions that I attended echoed this sentiment. Further, they emphasised how much opportunity there is given that this is a new technology. For example, there are many games available on existing platforms but not as many games specifically for XR. So, there is an opportunity to enter a small market with a large audience.

All the major tech giants had a presence at the conference (Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon etc) indicating the importance they place on the XR industry.

Can you provide examples of new technologies, or best practices presented at the conference that could be implemented within your organisation?

The exposure to these global companies and their projects/applications provided many insights into their business models, revenue streams, marketing, recruitment and collaboration. I am keen to explore similar methodology with my own projects.

A significant number of companies have team members who are based around the world and work remotely. I am now actively exploring potential opportunities for me to work as a freelancer or for my company to be contracted on similar projects.

I met a US-based developer who had worked on a project for a Fremantle-based client! It made me realise that it should be the other way around: Fremantle-based companies like mine should be able to compete and work with global clients if given the right connections and opportunities.

Niantic announced their new platform for WebXR includes new AR and location-based features which I can utilise for client projects.

How has attending the conference enhanced your professional development, and what skills or knowledge have you acquired that can be shared with your organisations?

Through attending talks, walking through the Exhibit Hall and meeting people, I learned about so many companies that I had never heard of before! The exposure to these companies and their projects provided many insights into their business models, revenue streams, marketing and managing teams.

I had the opportunity to try a lot of new XR technology hands on including headsets and mobile applications. Some of these are not yet available in Australia.

The standard of talks was incredibly high and were given by professionals who are at the top of their field. From a creative perspective, I gained insight into their inspiration, creative process, and development cycle.

The THIS IS FREMANTLE Aspire Award is open to anyone living or working in the City of Fremantle. Applications are now open and close on 30 August. Click here to apply.

Read the 2023 media release to learn more about Natalie Marinho.