Interview with Advisory Board Member Yannick B. Boers: 'CIIIC is one of the few places where IX imagination and applications truly come together.’

The Advisory Board of CIIIC consists of 24 carefully selected members who provide both solicited and unsolicited advice to our program team on substantive main lines. As representatives of the IX community and ambassadors of IX in the Netherlands, they are crucial for the connection with the industry. But who are these members, what do they do, and – most importantly – how do they view IX?

In part 17 Yannick Boers, founder of Boldly-XR (part of the agency group Handpicked Agencies), with offices in Breda, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam.

Who are you, what do you do?

‘I am Yannick Boers, a driven entrepreneur and creative strategist with a passion for technology and social impact. As the founder of Boldly-XR, I have specialized in developing interactive XR experiences for education, the cultural sector, and business, among others. Our work has been awarded multiple times, including Lovie Awards, Webby Awards, and Dutch Interactive Awards, making us considered pioneers in this field.

We have become accustomed to flat screens simply because they were available and affordable, not because they are ideal. Our minds work in 3D and multisensory; we do not experience the world as a flat interface. IX taps into this and makes experience and interaction much more natural and immersive. This results in a deeper connection and has a much greater impact, whether it concerns education, communication, or commerce. That is where my passion lies.’

Why 'immersive', what is your connection to new content/technology?

‘During my studies in Communication and Multimedia Design at Avans University of Applied Sciences, the Oculus Rift Development Kit 1 (DK1) was released. It was a completely new way of experiencing and interacting, and I was instantly sold. Especially when we combined it with the Kinect from Xbox – which allowed you to control a game without a controller and was still in development at the time – I saw the enormous potential. The idea that you can physically become part of a digital world has never left me.

To name a simple example that comes to mind now: the preservation of the Efteling Spookslot in the Metaverse shows how IX can preserve heritage and nostalgia, even if the physical version disappears! It makes a piece of history relivable and accessible for future generations, which inspires me both creatively and technologically.’

Why did you want to join the Advisory Board, what specifically appealed to you in/about the program?

‘I find it important to bridge the gap between creativity and technology; between imagination and application. CIIIC is one of the few places where those worlds truly come together. At Boldly, we work daily on experiences that make the interaction between humans and technology tangible. In the Advisory Board, I want to contribute to that connection and ensure that we include SMEs in this. Too often, innovative collaborations get stuck in one-off projects, while the real strength lies in building a sustainable ecosystem where knowledge, technology, and entrepreneurship continue to nourish each other. CIIIC has that potential.’

What is your IX dream/mission?

‘As I just mentioned: the opportunities that IX offers for SMEs as consumers and adopters. Large companies often have access to venture capital and can therefore invest in prototyping and innovation. SMEs have those resources less often and therefore lag behind more frequently. Research into how IX can be made more accessible and affordable for this group is crucial for the broad implementation of the technology.

Additionally, I think it would be great to do more together with our co-competitors, who are often also SMEs. In the Netherlands, there are very few parties that do exactly the same thing, and for that reason, we often complement each other. By collaborating and sharing knowledge and expertise through CIIIC, we can grow faster as a sector and strengthen our international position. I can contribute by turning innovative ideas into concrete concepts and solutions. I would like to further develop this.’

Which developments in the field do you see as important to strengthen and why?

‘The export of knowledge. What many people don’t know is that the Netherlands is incredibly advanced in the field of IX. More happens here technologically and creatively than in many other countries. But we are naturally modest, and that sometimes prevents us from taking the international spotlight. We have a unique position to share knowledge and set global standards!’

Public values play an important role at CIIIC, what is your view on that?

‘I believe that technology is only valuable when it enhances public values: connection, accessibility, sustainability, trust. As creators, we bear responsibility in that; we create not only to innovate but also to reflect on what our innovations mean.

What I find strong about CIIIC is that with the ‘Guideline and Self-Test Public Values in Immersive Experiences’ you can critically, yet concretely, examine projects and applications yourself. And by actively involving the creators, we can truly embed those values into practice.’

Finally, the Advisory Board gives advice – what is your message to the community? And how can people find and 'engage' you to potentially share their ideas with the community?

‘Stay curious, but also honest. We live in a time where we can build faster than ever, but that makes the question why we build something all the more important. Do not use technology (only) to impress, but to connect and enrich. And look beyond the project as such: what we build is important, but how we collaborate as a sector determines if it is truly sustainable.

If you want to share knowledge or collaborate to give the IX community more impact, I can be reached via adviesraad@ciiic.nl or yannick@boldly-xr.com.’

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Composition: Nils Adriaans

Photography: Ben Houdijk