A new report on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) shows that this industry is expected to grow over 15% from 2013 to 2018 reaching over $1 billion dollars by 2018.

The report, by global market research and consulting company MarketsandMarkets, indicates that augmented reality is a thriving technology showing growth thanks to advancements in wearables, internet connectivity, mobile phone technology, cameras and GPS.

The report estimates that by 2015, AR will be widely used in the education field for advanced learning and teaching and also in the medical field.

North America and Europe are earmarked as geographic market and technology leaders with some of the major companies to watch include Total Immersion (France), Qualcomm (US), Metaio (Germany), Vuzix (US), Layar (The Netherlands) and Wikitude (Germany).