Headwall’s note from the front line of the precipice of the metaverse.

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on Headwall in 2023. We at Headwall have been spearheading adoption of XR as an “actual” value adding tool to the world’s largest companies. I say “actual” because we only succeed where we are cutting through the hype cycle, the over publicity and the novelty of XR and providing a product that will save lives, time, space or money for operators. 

I’ve been working in VR technologies now for 10 years and the single consistency throughout has been the passion and commitment of the technology providers and the end users we have the privilege to work with. Virtual reality, extended reality or whatever you want to call it is filled with people who are super smart and care about their jobs. It’s been wonderful to work among people with such purpose. 

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Early this year we had the honor of winning first prize in a NIST Public Safety Communications Research competition called the CommandING Tech Challenge. We deployed our technology live in a rehearsed disaster at a University. It was a pleasure to watch our team perform under pressure and come through on top and I got to receive a huge poster board check for the first time in my life. 

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Later in the year we had a chance to work with some folks in the Navy which was another great adventure. In spite of the massive heat wave, lack of air conditioning and changing schedule, everyone involved helped out both in and out of our company and we now have adopted the saying “easy day!” internally when we are cheering each other on during hard tasks. 

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Finally I ended the year up in Ontario at a gold mine in the Canadian Shield mining region. The passion and enthusiasm for our technology was palpable and made me feel super lucky to be part of this movement. As my client stated proudly “everything humans use has been either grown or pulled out of the Earth and your VR will save lives while we do it.” I feel super proud to be part of this project.  

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2024 is shaping up to be an even more textured year as we get more involved in command center and security deployments. I’m looking forward to heading up to Ontario a few more times and am hoping the weather stays above -20C. We have some truly groundbreaking things coming through with our military partners and I couldn’t be more excited! 

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Throughout my career I’ve had the chance to do unique things away from a desk and out in the world among people who make things happen in the actual world. I feel lucky to be using the virtual world to create change in the physical and I can’t wait to see what 2024 brings. 

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Wishing Everyone A Great 2024,

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Geoff Bund, CEO