Seven years ago startup Total Reality started in the city center of Enschede to recently move to Kennispark Twente. By collaborating with other companies, investing in knowledge development and innovation, the company has developed further and further into a technology company.
Connect
Parent company Twinsense focuses on content marketing with video marketing as a specialty. Daughter company Total Reality focuses mainly on Augmented and Virtual Reality apps for the industry. Founders Maurice Kruse (CEO) and Albert Hoekstra (CTO) came into contact with various tech entrepreneurs through Oost NL.
The connections with the manufacturing industry led in 2018 to the creation of a business cluster focused on AR/VR: foundation Industrial Reality Hub. Within this cluster, the 15 participants share knowledge and network, and test new AR/VR applications. Every year, the hub partners organize virtual and physical events to demonstrate the application possibilities of AR/VR.
A nice example of the services provided is the Industrial Life Cycle platform that Total Reality is developing. This platform allows companies to create augmented reality (AR) instructions independently. These instructions are visualized around machines.
A new direction
By investing in collaboration and participation in multiple regional and national innovation projects, Total Reality was able to grow into AR/VR specialists in the manufacturing industry. Recently, the group of companies became too small. The entrepreneurs therefore decided to move to Kennispark Twente, located directly next to the campus of the University of Twente.
Contribution to society and the technological ecosystem
Maurice Kruse: "We have noticed that society is becoming increasingly digital. Partly due to corona or a shortage of technical staff, people are doing more and more remotely. This goes faster and it saves time, money and emissions. What we are good at is quickly and flexibly solving customer questions. We have grown in 5 years from 7 to 17 employees. We also doubled in turnover in a few years and were listed as a Fast Grower."
"Moving to Kennispark not only gives us more space and opportunities for expansion, but also puts us in a place where we now feel right at home: on a technology campus among other tech companies. We see ourselves as part of a larger technology ecosystem and become an attractive employer for technical talent from HBO and University. With the Industrial Reality Hub, we exchange knowledge and together provide unique opportunities for new talent," says Kruse, one of the initiators of the Industrial Reality Hub.
