BT Group targeted digital skills across industry verticals through a partnership with virtual training provider Immersive Interactive, launching tools enabling staff to engage in simulated environments.

The Immersive Spaces set-up involves a blend of interactive 360-degree video content with AR, VR and XR services. BT constructed a room comprised of HD projectors and touchscreens to display training materials and enable interaction.

A cloud-based library stores more than 3,000 pieces of interactive content covering training, education and entertainment.

During a demonstration, Ian Robertson, technical principal for 5G, and Alexandra Foster, director of BT’s Division X, highlighted the potential of a simulated environment for skills training in business and the public sector.

Foster said sensory learning can “really transform the experience of skills development”, citing deployments in education and healthcare settings.

BT demonstrated content covering inductions for staff in the manufacturing sector, training emergency service personnel and entertainment.

The operator stated Immersive Spaces is “fully supported” by mobile unit EE’s 4G and 5G networks, with the latter used for livestreaming.