Blog Immersive Tech: What’s Coming Next Interview with Timmy Ghiurau

In this interview, Timmy Ghiurau shares a rare inside look at the evolution of immersive tech across industry, culture and research. Drawing from his experience at Volvo, Unity and The Point Labs, he explains how XR progressed from early prototypes to realistic simulation, how AI now shapes our interactions with digital worlds and why Europe’s creative landscape is uniquely positioned for the next wave of innovation. Timmy reflects on practical lessons from deploying immersive tools inside large organizations, the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and the challenges of building bottom up ecosystems.

What first pulled you into immersive tech and human computer interaction?

Timmy Ghiurau: I started with the dream of becoming a musician, but when I was studying in Copenhagen, I met the Unity founders in the early days and realized what gaming technologies could do for storytelling and interaction. That opened my curiosity for human computer interaction and how to reduce friction in the way we communicate with machines. I spent a lot of time researching cognitive science and eye tracking while working with The Eye Tribe startup, which was later acquired by Oculus. Interacting with the first DK1 models made me think seriously about how to build something like a holodeck. Meeting Palmer Luckey during that period pushed me to imagine what VR could be beyond games. That convergence of game engines and new input systems was the real entry point for me.

Looking back, do you think XR has progressed at the pace you expected?

Timmy Ghiurau: I have mixed feelings about the pace of XR, but I try to stay optimistic. Working with Varjo from their early days showed me that things many of us dreamed of ten years ago are now possible, like human eye resolution and mixed reality that can fool the brain quickly. I see people saying XR faded, but much of that came from the metaverse hype. In enterprise, XR has quietly grown in design, manufacturing and defense. What excites me most is the convergence with AI, because AI can “curate” the world around you and make interactions more contextual. XR still misses a clear killer use case, but I think we are much closer than people admit.

Can you share a moment when an idea became real during your time at Volvo?

Timmy Ghiurau: I built the first VR lab in a small janitor’s room, pulling executives inside and guiding them through basic navigation until they experienced awe looking at realistic car concepts. Meeting the Varjo team changed everything. They showed early prototypes of the VR1 and XR1, and it was the first time I was truly blown away by VR hardware. A few weeks later they returned with a low latency model, and I became the first person to drive a real car on the road using the headset. It proved we could evaluate designs faster and collect new kinds of data.

What advice would you give to people trying to introduce immersive tech inside large organizations?

Timmy Ghiurau: One of the biggest lessons is understanding the problem space deeply. You need to know the industry you are working in, not just the VR solution you want to promote. Otherwise you fall into the trap of treating everything like a nail because you are holding a hammer. In large companies, improving just one step in the process can cause disruption elsewhere, so value must be delivered across the entire chain from design and R&D to testing and validation. Another lesson is the importance of building bridges. Many departments in big companies do not talk to each other, so you sometimes learn more about internal work from external partners. I often built tools for different departments so they would share data, environments or models. Navigating those dynamics is as important as the technology itself.

If you were starting an immersive company today, where would you focus?

Timmy Ghiurau: The direction we took with Point Labs reflects what I would focus on today. We looked at the Bauhaus model of bringing engineers, artists and designers together to address cultural problems while working with new tools. Europe is in a cultural crisis and also in a race with the US and China, but it still has rich soil for narratives and creative research. Instead of pure gaming, I would build an immersive tech lab that is grounded in research and focused on real applications in medical fields, enterprise, defense and manufacturing. These areas have urgent needs and can benefit directly from immersive tech. Multidisciplinary teams can create breakthroughs when they treat immersive tech as both artistic tools and functional systems.

What is Point Labs building and researching today?

Timmy Ghiurau: At Point Labs, we explore how to maximise value from digital twins by developing new interfaces for interacting with data, AI, and the human world. A core question is how we teach machines to make sense of humans and how we teach humans to make sense of a world filled with machines. Alongside that we work with artists in residence, including voice and immersive tech artists. We focus heavily on biofeedback, using sensors to understand the body and emotional states and build interactions that feel relevant rather than passive or decorative.

What opportunities and risks do you see in digital twins, automation and physical AI?

Timmy Ghiurau: Automation, robots and physical AI present major opportunities, but we must pay attention to how humans use the time they gain back. With self driving cars, we assumed people would use freed time well, but many simply scrolled social media. That raises questions about whether we should guide healthy behavior. Interacting with AI agents can reduce cognitive load, but it can also erode critical thinking. We start thinking in boxes and prompts, acting more like machines. That weakens empathy and communication. This is why I believe cultural and narrative development is as important as technological progress. Without it, we risk designing systems that shape us in ways we do not fully understand.

How do you think society should respond to these risks and shape a better tomorrow?

Timmy Ghiurau: Everyone has a responsibility to act, but it is easier to raise your voice when you have something concrete to show. Europe faces a systemic issue because owning the narrative requires owning infrastructure like data centers and GPUs. Otherwise we build on foundations controlled elsewhere. Change must happen holistically across policy and technology. Politics without technology is blind and technology without politics is naive. I never liked engaging in politics, even inside companies, but I learned it is necessary. You need to recognize your talent, the tools you hold and what your community needs. Building value around you lets impact grow outward. Shouting without building leaves no space for meaningful engagement.

What are the design principles that guide your approach?

Timmy Ghiurau: A key idea for us is encouraging faster distribution and bottom up innovation. Many EU initiatives work top down, giving large frameworks before understanding what the market needs. In Europe, we often “try to play jazz for a pop audience” meaning we overcomplicate processes through consortiums, long debates and heavy standards. These are useful at certain stages, but they slow down early experimentation. The market and the public need opportunities to engage with prototypes sooner, which creates pressure that fuels iterative innovation. Starting small reduces the fear of adjusting complex systems. That is one of the biggest issues we face across European projects.

How can bottom-up innovation actually happen in practice?

Timmy Ghiurau: It starts with practicing what we preach. There is a lot of talk and not enough walking. We need concrete examples that others can reference. I try to do this by working with universities in Sweden and Romania and showing engineering students how XR and AI can be integrated early. Multidisciplinary teams should form at the start rather than being added because a funding proposal requires it. We need to adjust learning and working methodologies to reflect how this technology actually operates. When principles are demonstrated in real projects, it becomes easier for institutions and partners to adopt them.

What collaborations are necessary to unlock the next breakthroughs in immersive tech?

Timmy Ghiurau: We need better mechanisms for collaboration among academia, startups and large industry. Corporates should lower the entry threshold so smaller companies can bring solutions into their pipelines. In big companies, purchasing and legal processes can take months and many small companies cannot survive that delay. Academia in Europe should become more responsive rather than reactive. Still, I see promising initiatives in Germany, Sweden and Spain where labs and industries collaborate well. We have the venues and conferences to meet, but we need to make it easier for new players to participate and contribute.

What gives you hope when you imagine the coming decade?

Timmy Ghiurau: Europe has a rich foundation of art and culture that we can build on. I have seen positive signs in the past year as companies, investors and institutions acted more proactively due to geopolitical pressure. Stricter regulations can slow things down, but they also support healthier development and more thoughtful decisions. Despite slower innovation loops, having frameworks in place helps shape a society that reflects shared values. These shifts make me optimistic about the future of immersive tech and cultural production. There is a renewed energy around collaboration and a willingness to rethink how creativity and technology interact across Europe.

What does Inspiring Tomorrow’s World mean to you personally?

Timmy Ghiurau: For me it means returning to the creative force that Europe already has and creating new incentives to support it. I believe creative industries can reach a new level by combining design, development, economy and narrative exploration. Working on future scenarios with Alex McDowell showed me how powerful it is to imagine 2050 worlds grounded in research. Minority Report influenced me early on and later I got to work with him using world building to map long term signals. These frameworks help us see where Europe can regain leadership in creativity. There is high potential if we continue building spaces where these ideas can grow.

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