Dreamscape Immersive mobile lab.
Image: Dreamscape

Verizon and Dreamscape Immersive, a virtual reality (VR) application developer, announced Thursday a partnership to build VR applications focused on immersive earning and training applications for use in the enterprise, public sector and education environments. The two companies also will form, along with Arizona State University, a dedicated VR innovation lab to develop cutting-edge learning applications. As Dreamscape’s “official 5G innovation partner,” Verizon has taken an equity stake in the company through Verizon Ventures, the companies said.

“Using 5G and edge computing, we are creating immensely powerful and complex VR experiences using lower-cost, tetherless VR hardware and advancing VR education and training simulations beyond what was previously thought possible,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business, in a statement. “This opens the door to new experiences and makes VR training more accessible for students, trainees, and professionals.”

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Verizon and Dreamscape Learn, a partnership between Dreamscape and ASU, will leverage their VR innovation lab to create immersive learning experiences for various education levels and environments by combining “the emotionality of Hollywood storytelling with cutting-edge technology and advanced pedagogical theories to provide vivid, active VR environments in which the student becomes a scientist explorer, discovering new worlds and solving complex issues and problems,” said ASU President Michael Crow, in a statement.

Verizon and Dreamscape also will develop avatar-driven, life-like training and simulation experiences aimed at government and specialized professional verticals and use cases using Dreamscape’s Avatar Driven Educational and Practical Training platform. When combined with ultra-low latency 5G networking, the simulations will let large groups interact with each other at a distance.

“Dreamscape is founded on the premise that we can think beyond physical limitations to create new ways for our world to learn, play, and work,” said Walter Parkes, CEO of Dreamscape, in a statement. “With Verizon as our partner, we’re able to push the limits of VR.”

Dreamscape was founded in 2017 by Parkes, a former producer, screenwriter and former head of DreamWorks Motion Pictures; Bruce Vaughn, former chief creative officer of Disney Imagineering; Kevin Wall, a music events producer and serial entrepreneur; Aaron Grosky, a live events producer; Swiss computer scientists Caecilia Charbonnier and Sylvain Chagué; and entrepreneur Ronald Menzel. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with a facility in Geneva, Switzerland.