Josh Shabtai is Lowe’s Innovation Labs’ Director of Lab Productions and Operations. Drawing on his past lives as video game designer, start-up founder and advertising creative director, Josh leads a global team whose mission is to make the future real today: developing, testing and ultimately scaling LIL’s narrative-driven productions across the Lowe’s network. Through real-world applications, his team explores the outer edge of various technologies and use cases, including virtual reality-based education, retail computer vision; in-store robotics programs; assistive robotic exoskeletons; real-time manufacturing; and mixed reality design. Josh has always been obsessed with fusing the digital and physical worlds in novel ways. Prior to joining Lowe’s Innovation Labs, he co-founded an augmented reality videogame studio, lm/nl, where he directed the best-selling AR title Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner for iOS; co-created the $100m+ selling toys-to-life platform Telepods; and transformed Band-Aid brand bandages into augmented reality Muppet shows with Band-Aid Magic Vision. He has previously served as creative director at IPG’s Media Lab and ad agency, JWT, and holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Boston University.
