In this interview, Silvia Innocenzi, AI Solution Manager at Skilla, a digital learning company that designs innovative training experiences for the corporate sector, shares his experience in developing AI-based and immersive learning solutions. Drawing on her background in digital education, VR, simulation, and gamification, she discusses how Virtual Reality can create safe, experiential learning environments and how its integration with AI, analytics, and adaptive technologies can shape the future of professional training.
The future of training will not simply be digital or immersive: it will be integrated.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and describe your professional role?
I am an AI Solution Manager at Skilla, a digital learning company that designs innovative training experiences for the corporate world. My role consists of leading the development of AI-based learning solutions, integrating emerging technologies such as VR, immersive simulation, and gamification into structured learning pathways.
I deal with product definition, technology assessment, team coordination, and the design of experiences that are not only technologically advanced, but also genuinely effective from a pedagogical point of view.
I have been working with educational technologies since 1998. I started working on e-learning in academia and research when it was still in the early stages of adoption in Italy. Over the past ten years, I have moved into the corporate sector. I have witnessed the evolution from traditional training to digital learning, then to immersive experiences, and today to the integration of AI and training. This path has allowed me to closely observe how technologies change, but above all how training cultures change.
What is your experience with the use of VR in training? Can you share a concrete example of VR applied in an industrial and/or ergonomic training context?
In recent years, I have worked on several immersive VR training projects, particularly in the corporate sector. In one of these projects, we developed a 360° simulation experience that allowed participants to immerse themselves in a complex professional situation, make decisions firsthand, and receive immediate feedback on their choices.
The experience was designed according to an inductive logic: first, the users acts; then, they receive structured feedback and can try again. We integrated immersive videos, decision-making interactions, moments of environmental exploration, and AI-based voice recognition, which allowed the user’s response to be analysed in real time.
The main value was not only the immersive effect, but the possibility of learning from mistakes in a safe environment, without real consequences, immediately consolidating theoretical principles through practice.
Although I have not worked directly on industrial ergonomic projects, I see a very strong parallel: VR makes it possible to simulate complex, repeatable situations with high emotional or operational impact, making learning experiential even in contexts that would otherwise require a physical laboratory or conditions that are difficult to reproduce.
How was this technology received by training participants?
The reception was very interesting. There is always an initial phase of curiosity mixed with scepticism, especially in corporate contexts that are less accustomed to immersive technologies. However, once participants put on the headset and begin the experience, their reaction changes radically.
Emotional engagement is one of the most evident elements: people do not simply attend the training; they experience it. This produces greater attention, concentration, and memory of the experience.
We collected very clear feedback on three aspects:
- The possibility of experimenting without feeling judged.
- Immediate awareness of one’s own mistakes.
- The feeling of “really being there”, which makes learning more concrete.
In some cases, participants stated that they had understood professional dynamics that had remained abstract in classroom training.
In your opinion, what are the main advantages of VR compared with traditional training methods?
The first advantage is the transition from descriptive to situational training. You do not simply talk about what should be done: you experience it.
The second is the safe environment. In VR, people can make mistakes without causing damage, try again, and explore alternatives. This is fundamental both for technical skills and for relational skills.
The third is what is known as embodied learning: learning that involves perception, space, and action. When the body is involved in the experience, memorisation and understanding are also strengthened.
That said, VR does not replace traditional training, it integrates it. It is a powerful tool, but it requires solid methodological design; otherwise, it risks remaining an impactful but isolated experience.
Are companies ready to adopt this technology, and do you see the use of VR in industrial training continuing to grow in the future?
We are in an interesting phase. After a period of great enthusiasm, VR is no longer at the centre of technological hype, but this does not mean that it is destined to disappear. On the contrary, it is often precisely during phases of apparent slowdown that technologies achieve more solid maturity.
Today, companies are not always fully ready, not so much because of technological limitations — which are decreasing — but because of cultural, organisational, and design-related aspects. Devices are not yet always lightweight and easy to manage on a large scale, company spaces are not always equipped, and above all, there is still a lack of a widespread culture of integrating VR into everyday training pathways.
Often, VR is used as a one-off innovation element rather than as a structural part of a learning ecosystem.
However, I am optimistic. I believe that the integration of VR, AI, analytics, and adaptivity can open a new phase. It is not only about simulating, but about making simulation intelligent, adaptive, and personalised. When we manage to build adequate organisational and methodological conditions, the potential will be enormous.
Overall, what is your opinion on the use of VR for training in industrial and/or ergonomic contexts? Do you plan to continue using it in your training activities?
I believe that VR has extraordinary value in professional training, especially when the goal is to learn in context: managing a machine, dealing with an unexpected event, correcting posture, or making a decision under pressure.
Its effectiveness increases when it is part of an integrated system: VR for simulation, AI for performance analysis and adaptivity, and guided reflection moments for reprocessing the experience.
I will certainly continue working with these technologies, but always with a critical and design-oriented approach. Innovation is not in the technology itself, but in the ability to build meaningful experiences.
I believe that the future of training will not simply be digital or immersive: it will be integrated. And when this integration becomes mature, simulation will no longer be an extraordinary event, but a natural space for learning.
Innovation is not wearing a headset: it is designing experiences that leave a mark.
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