Focus of your role:
- Tech ecosystems (including SMEs, startups)
What areas are you particularly interested in re far future tech?
- AI
- Human-centred design in tech
- Tech-enabled growth / Investing in tech
Niall Campion is the founder & Managing Director of VRAI. Nialls background is as an award winning editor, director and visual effects artist working in the film and television industry. Over a 15 year career he worked on projects for the BBC, Disney, Netflix, RTE and many more. Niall specialises in technological innovation to tell stories in a more interesting engaging way.
In VRAI, Niall leads product development and customer engagement. He produced and directed a VR Improvised Explosive Device awareness experience for the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Somalia. He was project lead on VRAIs IAG Cargo Virtual Reality Experience and is currently leading the iDAS project in collaboration with the Royal Air Force and Dstl in the UK. This project aims to codify airmanship behaviour using data driven virtual reality.
Niall also has a passion for sustainable business and has played a key role in implementing the Triple Bottom Line accountancy framework in VRAI. The company measures its success not just by annual profit and increasing shareholder value, but also by it’s impact on people and planet. VRAI recently were recognised for their work in this area by being named as Ireland’s Most Sustainable Startup at the National Startup Awards.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for future and emerging tech (5-20 years)?
Innovation from convergence as the biggest opportunity. Consolidation of core technologies into the hands of increasingly fewer large tech companies as the tech challenge. Global climate change as the challenge that will ultimately cast a shadow over all other challenges.
What’s the one priority for joint action you would like to take forward?
We’ve adopted the triple bottom line as a way of measuring our business success. I would like to see all companies no matter how big or small adopt a people, planet, profit approach to business where stakeholder value is given precedence over shareholder value.