Brisbane VR training company scores Biden-backed US contract

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Brisbane VR training company scores Biden-backed US contract

By Stuart Layt

Brisbane-based virtual-reality training company Next World has made the major leap to the United States with a contract with the University of the District of Columbia.

Next World offers virtual reality training modules, which allows workers to get training in a range of scenarios without having to visit potentially dangerous sites beforehand.

Next World founder and CEO Michael O’Reilly.

Next World founder and CEO Michael O’Reilly.

The university has introduced a new course, Critical Infrastructure, designed in collaboration with Next World and using its technology, as part of the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better economic and infrastructure mandate.

Next World founder and CEO Michael O’Reilly said they were thrilled with the US contract, as they saw the country as a major growth market.

“When it comes to the technology sector, the US is the place to be, so we’re really pleased to get our foot in the door there,” Mr O’Reilly said.

“In the US we’re very focused on getting affiliations with universities, so we hope UDC will be the first of many, because safety training in the US is often through universities and colleges, so that is a natural fit for us.”

University of the District of Columbia professor Anthony Mazza said they had worked directly with Next World to bring the course together.

“Next World is a key player in our ground-breaking new course which specifically aligns with the Biden Administration’s economic incentive to roll out a workforce development plan to address critical infrastructure issues in the United States,” he said.

Former deputy labour secretary and head of Biden transition team Chris Lu personally signed off on UDC’s course with Next World, as part of the Build Back Better program, designed to address the US’s crumbling public infrastructure.

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Mr O’Reilly said in addition to the UDC contract they were in late-stage talks with a number of other universities, including Boca Raton and City University of New York.

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That was on top of its growing Australian business, with the company expanding its ongoing contracts locally, including just last week when it signed a three-year deal to provide training modules for Construction Skills Queensland.

However, Mr O’Reilly said despite their recent successes they weren’t pursuing expansion for its own sake.

The company currently employs only about 15 people, is based out of a small office in Morningside and, while they planned to double their staff by the end of the year and move to a larger office, they did not want to get ahead of themselves.

“We’ve got to be careful, we’re still only a small business, so we’re being really careful about our scale-up strategy,” Mr O’Reilly said.

“Our focus is on doing really well here in Australia, which we are, we know what we’re doing is scalable, and then to expand in the US market.”

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