Interplay Learning Receives 2020 AHR Expo Innovation Award
Interplay Learning received the 2020 AHR Expo Innovation Award in the Software category for its Interplay Learning™ platform, an online and VR-based training system using advanced 3D simulations to address the skilled trades workforce shortage by providing immersive, accessible HVAC training to over 75,000 users.
The AHR Expo Innovation Awards is a yearly competition that honors the most creative and unique products and technology presented at the Expo. During this world-renowned HVAC expo, products compete in categories such as building automation, heating, plumbing, software, ventilation, and more. Winners are chosen based on qualities like creativity, application, and market impact.
Interplay Learning won the Software award for Interplay Learning™, an online and on-demand training course catalog designed for skilled trade professionals to train via a mobile device, computer, or in virtual reality.
Interplay Learning™ uses state-of-the-art 3D simulations to create an immersive learning environment for users and is addressing the skills gap by changing the approach to skilled trade training. The skilled trades industry is facing a growing skills gap issue. In the next 10 years, 60% of the skilled trades workforce in the USA will retire. Over the last seven consecutive years, skilled trades positions have been the hardest to fill globally, compounding the problem. Additionally, 74% of firms predict a shortfall of qualified skilled trades workers if changes are not made soon. Interplay Learning™ aims to be the change the industry critically needs.
“We’re incredibly honored and humbled to receive this Innovation Award. Our team is excited about AHR 2020 and being able to showcase our software, which is already making a huge impact in the HVAC community,” said Doug Donovan, CEO of Interplay Learning.
“Our software is the first-of-its-kind, an online training that technicians will actually use because the simulations mimic on-the-job training. As a company, we’ve helped more than 75,000 people build key technical skills, so we’re confident in our ability to change the way the HVAC industry trains its professionals.”
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Interplay Learning, an Austin-based company founded in 2016, provides award-winning, scalable online and VR training platforms for essential skilled trades globally—including the U.S. and South Africa—enabling rapid, hands-on employee training that leads to job readiness in weeks, and has been recognized by Forbes, TIME, and other organizations for innovation and workplace excellence.
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