GenieVision emerged from the AGC Start Up Bootcamp, an innovation scheme launched by AGC Glass Europe in early 2018 to promote the development of new, radically different ideas and foster an entrepreneurial spirit. Of the 15 ideas that were pitched, six – including GenieVision – made it through to the next stage, a coaching programme.
The process behind it was simple: bring each idea to maturity, come up with a value proposition and devise a sound business plan to win over investors.
GenieVision rose to the challenge and secured AGC’s support. Now, the young start-up is ready to find its first customers!
An evolving concept
GenieVision – a disruptive concept, only distantly related to AGC’s core business of glass – is a software solution for the construction and engineering industries that sets out to simply and accurately display an augmented reality 3D overlay via the user’s mobile device.
The solution is geared towards architects. Hadrien Vande Wiele, co-founder and CTO of GenieVision, explains how it all began. “When we were renovating our house, we kept going back and forth about what kind of fireplace we wanted. My wife challenged me to show her the different options in augmented reality. And that got me thinking…” Hadrien shared his vision with co-worker Philippe Carême, Head of Digitial IT Practice, who thought it was an excellent idea to give architects a tool for visualising different house layouts in augmented reality.
They presented their proof of concept during an initial selection round for GenieVision, and it was a hit! The idea started evolving, and the offering and market came into focus too: the tool would help general contractors and engineering consultancies detect errors and non-conformities in the field.
Another way of looking at your 3D plans
In early 2019, AGC decided to invest in the project. All the required skills were on hand to allow full use to be made of a range of technologies, including augmented reality, indoor geolocation and data conversion.
After a year of development and iteration with industry professionals, the basic product was finally ready to be rolled out. Today, GenieVision offers its customers a new way to look at their 3D plans: they can now view them in augmented reality, making it easier for them to carry out checks over the different stages of their projects.
What sets GenieVision apart
“GenieVision has four key strengths, “ says CEO Philippe Carême. “They are always foremost in our minds whenever we work on developments and lie at the very heart of our approach.
Our first strength is precision: we constantly strive to ensure that the 3D model fits neatly into the space where it is intended to be viewed.
Secondly, we take a customised approach, which makes it easier to connect our platform to our customers’ systems.
Thirdly, we make full use of BIM data, bringing them onto the worksite and thus enhancing the user experience.
And fourthly, our solution targets multiple industries, so it can be used to view the full 3D plans for a building, the special technical equipment inside it or even a specific facility. This is how we reconstructed the Mol float plant, to name but one example.”
One project, one team!
GenieVision is more than just a solution. It is also a strong, multidisciplinary and agile team!
Six people embarked on the GenieVision adventure, and all of them contributed to the business plan. The idea for the product was hatched by Philippe Carême, in charge of digital transformation at AGC, and Hadrien Vande Wiele, who came straight from the gaming industry.
They brought in Sandra Jarrige for her architectural background and Cécile Musialski for her legal experience. Jean-Pierre Van Oudenhove and Caroline Zigrand were the last to join the core team: Jean-Pierre’s data transformation expertise is a real asset, while Caroline, who specialises in sales BPO, has a wealth of sales know-how to contribute to the project.
Once the bootcamp was over, Cécile and Sandra left to take up new professional challenges, but the others were quick to decide that they wanted to keep going.
Ready to roll!
Thanks to the support of two partner customers, and internal support from AGC plant in Mol and AGC Glass Europe – GenieVision is now ready to roll! The application officially hit the market on 3 February 2020, marking a new chapter in this young start-up’s history and the beginning of a promise to its customers: GenieVision pledges to deliver superb quality control and slash on-site failure costs by up to 50%.
We wish the team every success with their endeavor!
Today, GenieVision has a team of 15 dedicated professionals who are pulling out all the stops to deliver this highly innovative solution.
For more information, don’t hesitate to contact us !
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