Yad Vashem: Israel's Virtual Historical Healing Space

About a year ago, I got the opportunity to bring 25-plus leaders in business to Singularity University (where currently I am an advisor) to get a peek into the future of consumer experience. SU, as its more informally known, has the mission of engaging, educating, and empowering leaders not just in business but in government, education, and the NGO world. It likes to showcase innovation in these sectors to illustrate where things inevitably will go, on the premise – with a nod to the “speculative fiction” writer William Gibson – that the future is already here, but not evenly distributed. For the folks I invited to SU that day, one of the most compelling, futuristic concepts on display was the Holoroom, a project developed by Lowes – the home furnishings retailer – that combines the use of physical space and augmented reality to enable shoppers to imagine, for instance, the kitchen of their dreams. What most struck visitors to SU that day was the simplicity of this hack. Lowes is looking to evolve the quality and value of a known type of consumer experience – visiting a store – not by inventing new technologies but by applying existing technologies, and design concepts, in a novel way.