Dr. Michael Gerards

Michael Gerards is co-founder and Executive Partner of present4D GmbH, headquartered in Duesseldorf. present4D is a full service Virtual Reality (VR) agency for strategic consulting, turnkey projects and software development focusing on the implementation of VR applications in industrial and non-gaming business environments. Until the end of 2013 Michael Gerards was Director of Innovation Management at the pharmaceutical and chemical company Merck KGaA in Darmstadt. He can look back on more than 20 years of experience in R & D, innovation, strategy and business development. He was a longtime member of the Merck Millipore Technology Council and the Innovation Steering Committee of the Merck Group and responsible for setting up a cross-company and companywide innovation process (MERCK innospire and Grassroot Innovation). Innospire was awarded the Innovation Prize of the German Economy in March 2015. Since 2014 and together with two co-founders, Michael Gerards has set-up a strong business network in the VR industry and with many trend, innovation and future experts. With the unique VR-Suite software solution from present4D, his team has developed a VR tool that allows agencies, 360 ° studios and end-users in the industry to easily create their own professional VR presentations for trade fairs, training, marketing and sales. In 2016, the VR-Suite won the SAMSUNG GearVR Killer App contest. Together with KPMG, Michael Gerards has described numerous cross-industry VR case studies in the study ‘New Dimensions of Reality’. Comprehensive value-added analyzes were published in present4D’s own VR Business Reports in the spring of 2019. Michael Gerards is also co-founder of the international network ‘Healthcare Shapers’ and an associate partner within the network ‘Digitale Innovation’ Cologne, Germany.