But moving to Seattle as a Fulbright Scholar has shown him a world much larger than he had ever envisioned: a world where STEM education is the norm, resources are rich and ideas plentiful.

Riggall left Launceston in October for America’s Pacific North-West, taking on one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world for six months, and leaving behind the tech community he’d helped foster in Launceston.

Taking such a major break away from his own world was a challenge for Riggall, whose entire focus has been shouldering much of the burden in raising awareness, literacy and business in Tasmania’s digital sector.

Making way for others to step up and take on projects he would usually run, Riggall said it was tough to walk away, but it was the only opportunity he had to do so – and ultimately a wise decision.

“I’m very much in my element over here,” he said.

“People from Microsoft and Amazon and so on are a dime a dozen, so everyone is really technically literate, there’s stuff I have to explain in Tassie and here you just assume they know it.”

The technical literacy Tasmania is only just beginning to fully grasp is something so ingrained in Seattle’s culture and tech hubs that everyone, young and old, knows what is going on.

Hubs for Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and the diverse, competitive start-up scene mean the region is full of opportunity, creativity, and support.

As the Fulbright Scholar, Riggall’s task when he first arrived was to decide what exactly he would be doing there. 

A key hope of the scholarship is to create deeper connections between far-flung places, through people and through ideas. 

“When I arrived, there really wasn’t a clear plan of exactly what I would do, so I had to figure out what I would try to achieve while I was here,” Riggall said.

The natural focus was virtual reality, a concept games like Pokemon Go and the Oculus Rift have made a household name.

Between 2008 and 2012, Riggall was working at the University of Tasmania’s Human Interface Technology Lab, focused on virtual reality in its earliest forms.

“That was super early days … you were an idiot to be working in VR back then,” he said.

“The whole world has changed with [virtual reality], the VR stuff has totally come of age. If there’s one thing that Seattle is just totally on top of, this is it – this is the place in the world for [virtual reality].”

That early focus has placed him in excellent stead in Seattle, where his experience means much of the present boom in virtual reality is already familiar territory.

“We were so far ahead of the game back in 2008 that actually my skills aren’t that far out of date,” Riggall said.

“We knew it all in 2008, we just didn’t have the technology – the technology wasn’t there.”

After putting aside academia to develop Enterprize, and his technology education consultancy Bitlink, it’s a refreshing opportunity to return to studying and teaching after nearly ten years working in the industry.

His focus has become developing a new course in virtual reality, a course that would bring together the experience and future focus in Seattle, and be shared across oceans to Tasmania.

This return to academia, developing the course at Bellevue College, also means an opportunity to ask the “big picture” questions – questions that start-ups short on money and big on brand might not always be fond of hearing.

Ethical decision-making, the role of technology in society and culture – things Riggall said people willingly discuss in Seattle.

With technology so firmly embedded in the consciousness of the city, Riggall said debate and discussion is welcomed across sectors – sectors that are realising ethical questions should be asked more often than not about the work they are performing.

The benefit of this querying, curious approach means there’s less pressure to produce and perform, and more time to stretch out, think, and collaborate with an incredible range of people – from teenagers hustling through their first start-up, to the founding names of the technology scene.

That global view of a sector that, in Tasmania, can feel small and often overlooked, is something Riggall is appreciating as an unexpected side-effect of his time in Seattle.

After forging a successful and wide-reaching career in Tasmania’s start-up scene, Riggall said his experiences in Seattle had made him realise the importance of Tasmanians stepping outside the island state – something he previously had not considered particularly important.

“A big question for me when I come back is – how can I make this opportunity more available to more people in Tasmania?” he said.

“We want people to have a global point of view, and I would also love to build a community … between Tasmania and the Pacific North-West.

“I think that can be done.”