Navalia is one of those trade fairs where the scale of the event says a lot about the moment an industry is going through. The 2026 edition, held in Vigo, once again brought together the leading players in the naval and maritime sectors at a time shaped by a question more and more companies are openly asking themselves: how do we digitalize processes without losing what has made us competitive?
For ARSOFT, a company specialized in XR solutions for the naval and industrial sectors, attending Navalia 2026 was not just about visibility. It was an opportunity to verify firsthand whether the interest we see every day through projects and industry conversations is already reflected across the wider sector. The answer was clear: it is, and it is growing.
A stand filled with practical questions
One of the first things you notice when bringing XR technology to an industrial trade fair is the profile of the people approaching the stand. It is not only innovation managers or technology specialists. At Navalia 2026, the ARSOFT stand welcomed maintenance engineers, production managers, training coordinators, and shipyard executives who arrived with very practical questions: how long does implementation take, how does it integrate with existing systems, what happens if connectivity fails?
That is a positive sign. It means the conversation has moved from “what is augmented reality useful for?” to “how can we apply it to our specific case?” And that shift alone was one of the most valuable outcomes of the event.
Most conversations focused on technical training, industrial maintenance, guided inspection, and remote assistance. That is no coincidence: these are precisely the areas where XR solutions for the naval sector have the greatest impact, as they combine high technical demands with significant operational risk and a constant need to update knowledge and procedures.
Immersive training: transferring technical knowledge in demanding environments
Generational replacement is currently one of the biggest concerns for companies in the sector. Many are onboarding new technicians who need to learn complex procedures in a short amount of time and in environments where the margin for error is extremely small. At the same time, the accumulated knowledge of senior professionals is often difficult to transfer through traditional manuals or classroom-based training.
XR solutions tackle this challenge from a different angle. Instead of simply explaining a procedure, they make it visible and interactive. With platforms such as EyeFlow, developed by ARSOFT, a maintenance manual can be transformed into a sequence of 3D instructions that operators follow in real time, either on the actual equipment or within a simulated environment beforehand. The result is a shorter learning curve, reduced dependency on senior technicians, and complete traceability of the training process. During Navalia, several visitors discussed highly specific use cases, including onboard safety training, operations in confined spaces, and assembly procedures for high-complexity components. In each case, the conversation naturally evolved toward content flexibility: the ability to adapt training modules to different profiles, languages, and levels of experience is one of the most important factors influencing the adoption of this kind of technology
Naval maintenance and inspection: efficiency where it matters most
Maintenance in complex naval and industrial environments is an activity where downtime translates directly into measurable costs. Any tool capable of reducing intervention times, minimizing diagnostic errors, or providing immediate access to technical information at the right moment has a direct impact on operational performance.
At the ARSOFT stand, demonstrations showed how XR solutions applied to naval maintenance can function as an additional information layer over the physical environment: step-by-step visual instructions, instant access to technical documentation, and contextual alerts linked to the component being serviced. All of this without operators needing to look away from the equipment or consult paper manuals or external screens.
Remote assistance capabilities also generated significant interest. The possibility for a field technician to share in real time exactly what they are seeing with a specialist located elsewhere — who can add visual annotations directly onto the live image — reduces the need for travel and speeds up issue resolution. In a sector with geographically distributed assets, the practical implications are clear.
Meanwhile, guided inspection solutions using hands-free devices attracted the attention of quality control professionals. The ability to automatically record evidence during the inspection process and link it to traceability systems simplifies tasks that currently consume considerable time and often generate inconsistencies.
What we are taking away from Vigo
Beyond the contacts generated and the conversations initiated, Navalia 2026 confirmed that the naval industry is reaching a turning point in its digital transformation journey. The question is no longer whether immersive technologies make sense, but rather which processes benefit most from them and how they can be integrated into existing operations.
ARSOFT leaves the event with a strong follow-up agenda, a deeper understanding of the sector’s real-world challenges, and the conviction that XR solutions for the naval sector have a clear and growing place within the industry being built for the future. We will continue working toward that goal.
