November 18, 2025
The MatchXR Awards were presented at the MatchXR 2025 event’s evening ceremony in three categories: Solution of the Year, Collaborator of the Year, and XR Hall of Fame.
The first person to be inducted into Finland’s XR Hall of Fame was Mika Luimula, who has had a long career in the field. He serves as Head of Education and Research for ICT, Industrial Management, Software Engineering, and Interactive Technologies at Turku University of Applied Sciences.
Among the notable nominees, the finalists in the Hall of Fame category also included Urho Konttori, known as the founder of Varjo and Distance Technologies, as well as Jörgen Geers, a long-time industry influencer and the developer of the first fully spherical 360-degree video rig.
The winner of the Solution of the Year category was Doublepoint Oy’s WowMouse. The award was accepted by CEO Ohto Pentikäinen.
WowMouse has already gained international recognition, earning a special mention on TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025 list. The solution transforms the Apple Watch into a hands-free controller, allowing users to control a computer cursor by moving their hand.
Among several high-level nominees, Virtual Dawn and Distance Technologies Oy’s Holographic Display also reached the finals in the Solution of the Year category.
With the Collaborator of the Year category, the organizers wanted to highlight the importance and impact of collaboration in a relatively young industry. From a group of impressive nominees, the jury selected Helsinki XR Center as the winner. Laura Olin from Younite AI and the Ouluverse project were also among the finalists.
The competition jury consisted of international and Finnish industry experts:
- Jani Jokitalo, Leading Specialist, Business Finland
- Valerie Riffaud Cangelosi, New Market Development Manager, Epson Europe
- Michael Barngrover, Managing Director, XR4Europe
- Krista Jäntti, Partner & Education and Business Advisor, Aalto Creatives
The MatchXR Awards, organized for the first time in Helsinki, were hosted by DIMECC Oy, its Metaverse Finland ecosystem, and Business Finland. The awards were presented at the evening event following the daytime MatchXR program held at Metropolia’s Arabia Campus on Tuesday, 18 November 2025.
