In November, our team joined the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit (BDTS), hosted within the Smart City Expo World Congress at Fira Barcelona Gran Via. It was the perfect place to share a vision we care deeply about: cities can be experienced, understood, and co-designed together — even when people are far apart.
What we showcased
At BDTS, we demonstrated an early version of our Virtual Tourism experience: a multi-user immersive visit where people can meet holographically inside a virtual space and explore a city together. Instead of a one-way 360 video or a passive tour, participants share the same scene, interact in real time, and feel present with each other.
- Real-time holographic presence — users appear as volumetric representations to each other, not flat video windows
- Shared virtual tourism — a guided or free-roam visit through points of interest, with spatial audio and natural conversation
- Collaborative storytelling — narrative layers (history, facts, local stories) that adapt to the group
- Designed for simple deployment — easy to set up, run, and scale
Why this matters for cities
Smart cities are not only about sensors, data, and infrastructure — they are also about people, culture, and inclusion. Immersive holographic visits can support city goals in practical ways:
- Tourism and culture — remote visitors can discover a city before traveling, or join virtual visits when travel is not possible
- Accessibility and inclusion — tailored for people with mobility constraints, older adults, and audiences in hospitals or remote locations
- Education — schools and libraries can host shared visits to landmarks as part of learning activities
- Citizen engagement — stakeholders can meet inside a digital twin and discuss urban changes together
What we learned at BDTS
BDTS brings together startups, researchers, corporates, investors, and institutions around deep tech innovation. For us, it was a great environment to validate interest in social, multi-user XR experiences that blend presence with meaningful content.
- People respond strongly to shared presence — the "being there together" feeling changes how users perceive a virtual visit
- Stakeholders want practical deployments — beyond demos, there is demand for solutions that fit real venues, budgets, and operational constraints
- City-focused use cases resonate — cultural heritage, tourism, education, and public services are clear entry points
What's next
We are continuing to evolve the Virtual Tourism experience into a flexible platform customisable for different cities and institutions — improving realism, scalability, and ease-of-use while keeping the experience social and human-centred.
If you are a city, cultural institution, or innovation partner interested in immersive visits and holographic collaboration, reach out through our contact form to schedule a demo or discuss a pilot.