Overly's CEO, Ainārs Kļaviņš, Talks Augmented Reality Future for Authority Magazine

*Full interview available in Authority Magazine

Ainārs entered the augmented reality (AR) sector a decade ago and founded Overly, the first AR development business in the Baltic States, in 2014. Today, alongside his co-founder and CTO, Gatis Zvejnieks, he runs a SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform that empowers people with no tech skills to create AR experiences from anywhere in the world. While many are hung up on Meta’s offer for virtual reality Metaverse, Ainārs is adamant that blocking out reality to enhance human connection is not a long-term solution. Instead, he believes that the long-term Metaverse will see us enhance the real world with digital layers through AR.

Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the AR Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.

I knew from my teens that I wanted to set up a technology company. The only thing missing was a business idea. So, similar to many millennials in the 2010s, I set up a blog. My website was dedicated to sharing the newest trends in the tech industry. In a sense, this site disciplined me to follow the industry news as I posted updates every day.

I was around half a year into my blogging career when I came across augmented reality (AR). It blew my mind, and I call it my aha moment! At that point, I knew I had no other choice but to set up an augmented reality business and needed someone who could develop an AR solution.

My blogging efforts dwindled as I switched my focus to finding software developers who could bring my idea to life. After more than a year and dozens of rejections from software developers who thought AR had no future, I found Gatis Zvejnieks. Gatis had also found out about AR some time back and developed mock projects. It was a serendipitous meeting. Together we co-founded Overly in 2014.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes, indeed. Overly was an agency that provided personalized augmented reality solutions for more than eight years. Developing individualized AR solutions are more in-line with corporate budgets. Still, over the years we were increasingly approached by educators, nonprofits and SMEs. These organizations had terrific use cases in mind but limited resources.

That’s what inspired us to build a SaaS augmented reality creation platform that addresses all these issues. Launched in 2021, Overly Creator let us squash the high costs and scrap code-based development. We’re continuously updating the platform, and our most recent AR features include 3D content development and NFT (non-fungible token) visualization. Whatever a person or business wants to create in AR, we aim to make building augmented reality experiences just as simple as creating designs in Canva. No technical skills required.

Democratizing digital creation is more crucial than ever today. We see the Metaverse future described as a room in virtual reality where you hang out or build something. We, on the other hand, think that virtual reality is just the first step into Metaverse. The real Metaverse will happen in augmented reality. We will not go into an isolated room but rather bring digital assets into our worlds. I believe Overly will be a key tool that will enable everyone to create Metaverse solutions and experiences.

The VR, AR and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?

If you’ve heard about Gartner Hype Cycle and tech adoption, you’ll understand that the most exciting thing is that augmented reality is entering the mainstream market and has left the hype stage way back in 2015/16.

Secondly, it is exciting that Metaverse is just entering its hype stage as it helps push AR and VR technologies back into news headlines.

Last but not least, I want to talk about non-fungible tokens in AR. As people embrace digital ownership, AR lets creators and NFT connoisseurs bring the objects they own or sell into the real world, increasing a sense of ownership. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to enable people to visualize their purchases through our platform.

What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?

When it comes to augmented reality, firstly, it’s hardware. Software is developing much more rapidly than hardware which is a real bottleneck for augmented reality experiences. This includes both mobile devices and glasses. For AR to go mainstream, mobiles are the first step, but wider adoption will happen when we start using AR glasses. We’re still a few years away from being able to do this.

Hardware development links into my other concern: people who have experienced bad augmented reality content or its limitations automatically place AR into something that has little value. Businesses or users may reject the technology without realizing how far it has come and is yet to go.

There are also some ethical concerns in terms of privacy. Augmented reality puts digital layers into our environment or onto us. Face filters recognize our faces, and let’s be real, we’ve been teaching platforms to identify us for years through photo tags and selfies. In the future, AR glasses could scan the face of someone new we meet, and we’d see all about them in seconds. Is it something we’d want to happen to us? I am not sure.

I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?

This is a great question. The thing is that entertainment can be viewed from two perspectives. For your customers or audience, AR and VR experiences provide entertainment. Great content inspires and educates people. However, if you look at providing these experiences to your audience from a business perspective, these technologies are tools that you use to drive engagement and boost your bottom line.

SMEs that fight in the same market as big brands need to do things differently. AR is more accessible than VR technologies as most of us own mobile devices. That’s all people need. Retailers can offer AR try-ons, which research shows makes people feel more confident about purchasing decisions. Museums use augmented reality to expand their exhibitions. Educators embrace the technology to provide a new, more visual form of learning. It was especially important during the remote learning scenarios. And to use AR successfully, organizations don’t even have to invest in hardware as people bring their own mobiles everywhere.

Are there other ways that VR, AR and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?

This is the great thing and pitfall of mixed reality technologies. On the one hand, we already see a lot of ways to use these technologies. Yet, we are still taking baby steps to understanding where and how they can be used across various industries. Hardware and software continuously evolve. Almost every day we discover a new problem that can be solved with AR or a new hypothesis that begins testing.

To give you an example, let’s look back at the time when the world was hit by the pandemic and global lockdowns. Suddenly activities that people had been doing in their free time and at work for that matter were no longer available to them. Although Netflix streaming rocketed, the longer people spent indoors the more they needed inspiration and new ways to spend their time outside home. This is when we saw organizations and businesses step in and use augmented reality to launch interactive city tours and scavenger hunts, giving people a new form of entertainment. This is still one of our top enquiries today.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?

First of all, I want to dispel the myth that augmented reality is virtual reality. Somehow, virtual reality is a better-known term for the general public. Given that it is almost impossible to explain augmented reality without showing it to a person, people often assume it is the same as virtual reality. But unlike virtual reality, which aims to teleport you into a completely digital world without any references to your existing environment, augmented reality lets you place and interact with digital objects in your real-world surroundings.

Another one I hear at times is that “augmented reality is on its way out”. Yes, AR has been through a period of hype where businesses used it because it was something new. But instead of disappearing altogether, we’re finally seeing organizations put novelty aside and develop valuable use cases.

And the last idea I’d like to squash is about AR goggles stopping people from thinking for themselves. With the development of augmented reality glasses, we expect that users will see digital information about their surroundings in real-time. Perhaps artificial intelligence will serve up relevant information without a person’s request. However, isn’t it something that mobiles do already? I believe that digital devices, including AR glasses, can allow us to be more present in real life. We can focus on living our lives by enabling digital support when necessary. We’re just changing a device that serves up information.

What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The VR, AR or MR Industries?”

Passion for technology is the first — you have to love what you do to be in it for the long term.

Open-mindedness is another one — AR is still a novelty at large, and we have to continue exploring different use cases rather than focus on one avenue we may already believe in.

You also have to be an early adapter, invest in new technologies, and take risks to build new use cases to convince other people to jump aboard.

Patience is a big one. Although it seems that technologies are developing rapidly, when you’re working with augmented reality, you see that the hardware is not quite there yet to meet all your ambitions.

Lastly, I think it is awesome if you have a background in a completely different field, like fashion or retail. This will let you come up with great applications for your particular sector.

*Read the full interview in Authority Magazine