Science is one of the toughest subjects to get kids interested in, made more challenging by the relatively high cost of supplies. That’s where Labster comes in; gamifying the experience in digital labs, and imparting life skills along the way.

Julie: Welcome to the XR for

Learning Podcast. My name is Julie Smithson, and today I have Michael

Bodekaer Jensen from Labster. Michael is a tireless visionary and the

founder of multiple technology companies. Michael is also part of

Labster, a fast-moving, award-winning company that focuses on

revolutionizing the way science and lab safety is taught at

companies, universities, colleges and high schools all over the

world. The platform offers advanced virtual laboratory simulator,

where students and employees can work with real-life challenges in an

online environment that stimulates reality. Welcome, Michael.

Michael: Perfect. Thanks so

much, Julie, it's an honor to be here. And thanks much for the great

intro. I think you're covered perfectly many of the things that I was

hoping to say.

Julie: That's awesome. Well,

please tell us a little bit more about Labster. I know that in

today's world we're looking for those accesses to education and

learning. And I'd love for you to share with us more about Labster

and what you offer.

Michael: The overall vision of

Labster is to empower the next generation of scientists to change the

world. We're really of the strong belief that if we are going to

solve big global challenges -- such as global warming -- we need

thousands of young, bright minds working together and trying to solve

these important challenges. I think innovation always is, what we've

seen over and over again, the key driver for solving important,

critical global challenges.

So my co-founder myself started out

with this idea that, OK, as individuals, there's no way we are going

to be able to solve these gigantic global challenges. But what if we

could inspire thousands of students to try? And not only try; also,

to believe in their own ability to solve these challenges and then

give them the skills, the concepts, the knowledge that they would

need to go out and solve these challenges. So that was sort of the

main motivation and driver, when we started business nine years ago,

and it still is today, really trying to understand this concept.

Also, it was driven a lot by us realizing the way science is taught

today. And my co-founder, he's a science teacher as well. We found

that it was really hard to engage the students. It was often, as

science is seen as one of the most boring topics, and at the same

time, one of the most expensive topics to teach today. So it was mind

boggling for us to see that. And knowing how important science

education is for solving global challenges and for innovation, why

are we not really solving that? So we thought, OK, why don't we try

and solve that? And I had some background as well in the gaming

industry. So we thought of, well, what if we just build, basically, a

flight simulator, but for science? Where we could create or use the

innovative gaming technologies and game designs, as well as learning

pedagogies, and try and create the most immersive, interactive

experience that you can imagine, to teach science in a much more fun

way? And then, how that would empower and inspire these students to

solve these challenges and believe in their own ability to solve

these global challenges, which they can. We often find the students

struggle with their own self-belief or confidence. And those were

some of the main things that we really wanted to tackle. So, yeah,

the very short pitch of what Labster is is essentially a flight

simulator, but for science.

And then there's a lot more to it. We

have interactive animations that shows concepts. You can zoom in and

fly into cells and