Interview with Advisory Board Member Claartje Aarts: 'The experiences we can create with immersive are much more powerful'

The CIIIC Advisory Board consists of 21 carefully selected members who provide solicited and unsolicited advice to our program team on key content areas. 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 4, innovation strategist Claartje Aarts.

‘Immersive applications are endless and strongly supportive of innovation, but have not been widely adopted yet’

Who are you, what do you do?

‘I work as an innovation strategist (at social housing corporation Portaal, ed.) which means I continuously work on new insights and change. More specifically: we have many societal, complex challenges that we need to handle better and smarter to make the desired impact. Think of resilient neighborhoods and communities where it’s pleasant to live, sustainability, but also solutions for debt issues and homelessness. In the past, I have worked a lot at the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, always focused on the use of new technology.’

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

‘Immersive technology has been around for a long time and seems to be ‘mature’ mainly in the gaming industry. The applications are endless and strongly supportive of innovation, but have not been widely adopted yet. That itches.’

Why did you want to be on the Advisory Board, what specifically attracted you to the program?

‘I was and am curious about the use of immersive technology in a broader field, particularly from the creative industry as a basis. I also want to contribute to this, but above all, learn much more and thus exchange ideas about immersive.’

What is your IX dream/mission?

‘That we use immersive to make a societal impact and better grasp complexity. We need a maker’s mentality and creativity to develop these insights from the right societal questions. IX, but also AI, help enormously with this. The experiences we can create with immersive are much more powerful, allowing us to gain more and better insights with a faster learning curve for innovation, such as in urban development.’

What developments in the field do you see as important to strengthen and why? Or: what do you see as the most important development in the IX field (as part of the creative industry)?

‘That immersive has become more accessible to create. This gives much more room to experiment, which helps to find new applications. And it makes it less of an issue if it doesn’t work out immediately.’

Public values play an important role at CIIIC, how do you view that? Extra stimulating or a potential obstacle?

‘Democratization of technology is an important driving force for me, which is why I am pleased that education is so well represented in the advisory board. This does not take away from the fact that commerce is also important to come to fruition, they should not hinder each other.’

Finally, the Advisory Board gives advice—what is your message to the community? And how can they find and ‘use’ you to possibly share their ideas with the community?

‘Get started! Let’s fulfill the promises together around immersive technology. I can be reached via LinkedIn  for questions, or via CIIIC adviesraad@ciiic.nl.’

Photography: Ben Houdijk