Christophe Chartier has been doing business around the world for decades — and that means sitting (and walking) through plenty of conferences and trade fairs. Still, the co-founder and CEO of the technology company Immersion says his participation at Inspire & Connect Asia, organized by Bpifrance in Singapore, left him “amazed.”

The Nov. 17 event brought together French and Asian entrepreneurs, investors and leaders in 10 sectors of activity, from energy to mobility and digital/AI, to discuss shared opportunities and the co-creation of solutions to major global challenges. It was a unique opportunity for Chartier, who co-founded Immersion, a leader in extended reality (XR) technologies since 1994, to present to the Asian market some of their interactive hardware and software solutions that have long been distributed among academics, research centers and industries like Airbus, Alstom and Renault.

 

 

In addition to showcasing some of their key products, like Shariiing, a remote collaboration platform that can be combined with its XR headsets, Chartier was eager to highlight Immersion’s participation in the DesCartes research project in Singapore, a programme that aims at exploring hybrid AI use cases for smart cities, optimizing decision-making in complex situations (energy consumption, air traffic planning based on weather conditions, regulating ground traffic based on pollution levels, etc.).

The company is involved in this consortium for its expertise in human-computer interface (HCI) and visualization: “Cities, like manufacturers, need tools that make complexity accessible, visible and interactive.”

 

The project includes contributions from 30+ partners, including the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Singapore Institute of Technology. Immersion’s CEO says he hopes this project will help the company to continue to “gain credibility and awareness” in other Asian countries by demonstrating its innovative XR solutions, with Singapore acting as a “launching platform.”

 

Dynamic ecosystem

Inspire & Connect Asia proved fruitful for Immersion. “A thousand participants were registered, offering good visibility and we were able to demonstrate our know-how to both local and French actors,” Chartier explains. “Connections were easily made, we already have a lot of follow-up meetings planned for January.”

According to the CEO of Immersion, the event was an accurate representation of the dynamic ecosystem at play in Singapore: “There’s no barrier, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. There’s also a positivity that is less common in Europe at the moment.” This dynamic and a strong “commitment on technology, innovation” at the service of a vision for the future is what first pushed Chartier to turn towards Singapore in 2017, with the support of Bpifrance’s Insurance Export.

 

 

Partners that know the territory

While it was a “slow” process at first to gain a certain legitimacy on its own in the island nation, the DesCartes project and now Inspire & Connect Asia is “opening doors” for Immersion. Even as it also explores opportunities in India and Indonesia, the company’s short-term goal is to reinforce its position in Singapore by creating a structure and starting recruiting.

“There are real opportunities” for French tech companies interested in expanding in Singapore, says Immersion’s CEO, adding that it takes time to understand the local habits and customs. “I would advise working with local partners and institutions like Bpifrance or Chambers of Commerce that have extensive knowledge of the place. It helps in avoiding mistakes,” Chartier says. “Growth for a tech company inevitably involves Asia.”