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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