Ando Shah is an experience and systems designer, mixed-media artist, engineer and virtual reality pioneer. Trained as a chip designer, he spent his formative years working in Silicon Valley designing hardware for video streaming and renewable energy systems for off-grid communities. He created one of the first 360 capture cameras, created and directed multiple live-action and interactive VR experiences selected at Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Geneva International Film Festival and World XR Forum amongst others. He co-created the world’s first underwater camera trap and software identification system that is used to automatically identify individual manta rays. Ando is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Ballast Technologies, and he co-created the field of aquatic virtual reality. He has designed and built the systems and experiences for innovative and award-winning products such as the VRSlide and DIVR, and holds multiple patents in these fields. His work has been featured in the New Yorker, CNET, The BBC, Forbes, Discovery, Digital Trends, MIT Technology Review, WIRED and Freethink amongst others. He is also a contributor on Sustainably, an archive of traditional packaging materials from around the world.