Augmented reality applied to the innovation process - Technologies and impacts in the company

Over the last twenty years, innovation (whether technical or in terms of usage) has become an essential component of all businesses. In a world of increasingly rapid communications, instability and adaptation are the norm, and the exceptional situation of the year 2020 has only confirmed the need for rapid prototyping tools, technologies and methods. Prototyping objects, of course, but also services, production methods and anything else that can bring innovation to a company.

At the same time, augmented reality technologies have become increasingly popular. The ability to blend reality with contextualized digital data as naturally as possible (the basic definition of augmented reality) has become increasingly simple thanks to the efforts of the many players in the field. Hardware suppliers have brought to market glasses that remove the constraints of using a smartphone or tablet. Software publishers now offer tools for creating augmented reality experiences without the need for in-depth knowledge of computer code (in line with the "no-code" movement) or total mastery of 3D modeling. These two elements, combined with a deeper movement towards digitization of processes in all businesses, make the uses of augmented reality accessible to all companies, regardless of size or sector.

Like its sister technology, virtual reality, augmented reality is a powerful tool for innovation, making it easy to prototype objects or services. With augmented reality, there's no need to build a machine to validate its correct implementation in the field - a 3D model is all that's needed! These are the particular features and strengths of this technology, which is designed to work in the real world, in the field, in perfect harmony with virtual reality.

To use augmented reality effectively, you need to understand its constraints. Indeed, the field is still very heterogeneous today, with many solution providers, numerous technical terms that do not cover the same functionalities and, more fundamentally, an acceleration of developments driven by the digital giants that tends to rapidly render tools obsolete, and to complicate the adoption of norms and standards.

This article gives you a better understanding of augmented reality and explores its uses in innovation through a series of concrete examples. It also describes the main constraints to be taken into account when setting up a project using this technology, and some "best practices" to avoid the pitfalls.