Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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121. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the estimated value of the augmented reality and virtual reality industries here; the estimated levels of employment involved in these sectors; the number of companies based in this country operating in these sectors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49208/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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My Department in its work on new and emerging sectors is constantly striving to identify areas of opportunity for Irish-based enterprise. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality is seen as a significant growing global market with worldwide revenues for the Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) market set to jump 100 per cent or more over each of the next four years. According to a new forecast by research firm IDC total spending on such products and services is estimated to be valued at $11.4 billion this year and expected to increase to nearly $215 billion by 2021, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 113.2 per cent along the way.

As part of the evidence base for the Refresh of Priority Areas under Research Prioritisation Data Visualisation Technologies, and in particular, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) were identified as technologies that are critical to Ireland’s economic and social development out to 2035.

AR/VR has a wide range applications across key sectors of the economy ranging from leisure and entertainment; product development and manufacturing; retail; to health and education service delivery systems.

AR/VR is a new disruptive technology impacting on many verticals and as a result it is difficult to scope the numbers of companies involved and the corresponding employment levels albeit a significant area of opportunity for Ireland. AR/VR is at a very early stage in Ireland with currently 3 multinational companies in the pure play AR/VR with many other MNCs having significant involvement in AR/VR and estimated to employ in the region of 10,000. There is also a mixture of High Potential Start-Ups (HPSUs) and more established indigenous companies also involved. The most recent sector brief on Digital Content Creation (Games, Animation and Film) provides an indication of the potential scale of AR/VR particularly in the gaming sector which is increasingly focussing on AR/VR. It is estimated that there are ca. 2,000 employees in the gaming sector across 30 agency-supported companies.