Agenda

Description

Mainstream attention is finally focused on the convergence of technologies that the AWE community have been shaping for the past decade, and the "Metaverse" is having a moment. The idea has seemingly captured everyone's attention, with many rushing to define it and stake their claim. When you cut through the hype, who are the people truly shaping this future? Join Cathy Hackl for a short talk on the State of the Metaverse, followed by an inspiring discussion joined by leading voices featuring Roblox, AB InBev, and Nike. Together, they'll elevate the Metaverse conversation from a buzzword to an actual informed dialogue on the future of the Internet. They'll cover how culture and many industries are evolving - from fashion, sports, gaming, and beyond. We may even be joined by a panelist, born in the metaverse. This exciting session will give attendees a foundational perspective on the Metaverse that outlines both the pitfalls and opportunities in the years ahead.

Speakers

Lindsey McInerney

Former Head of Technology and Innovation , AB InBev

Dirk Lueth

Co-Founder and Co-CEO , Upland

Cathy Hackl

Chief Metaverse Officer , Journey

Christina Wootton

Vice President, Brand Partnerships , Roblox Corp

John Buzzell

Enterprise Lead, Unreal Engine , Epic Games - Unreal Engine

Description

As the world becomes increasingly connected, and immersive technologies gain wider adoption within government, business, and the consumer market, a framework for privacy, cybersecurity, and safety is necessary. From headsets to other wearables and related sensors, Extended Reality (XR) technologies are now capable of gathering untold quantities of biometric data about users, potentially everything from a user's location and skin color to their eye and hand positions at any given time. As we build the next version of the Internet/Web 3.0, also known as “The Metaverse,” it is vital that we take a proactive approach and address some fundamental design choices about the principles of how we want it to operate and avoid replicating or exacerbating what is broken about the Web today. The most disastrous elements that must be fixed are data ownership, confidentiality, and accountability. With this in mind, the XR Safety Initiative (XRSI) and many research partners such as the MITRE corporation are engaged in conducting research to propose a Privacy and Safety Framework that sets a baseline set of standards, guidelines, and best practices that are regulation agnostic. Join this dynamic panel where we will go beyond discussing the sheer problems and begin to solutions that lead to better privacy, cybersecurity, and safety in the Metaverse.

Speakers

Kavya Pearlman

Founder & CEO , XR Safety Initiative

Dennis Bonilla

Co-Founder & CTO , Baltu Studios

Kristina Podnar

Digital Policy Advisor , NativeTrust Consulting LLC

Description

Marvel Themed Entertainment and MadHouse Productions join forces to immerse guests in all-new stories in an all-new format, Escape Rooms, leveraging AR and VR technologies to the bring the Marvel Universe to life in a whole new way!

Speakers

Amy Peck

Founder/CEO , EndeavorXR

Brian Crosby

Creative Director, Marvel Themed Entertainment , Marvel Entertainment, LLC

Mikey Trujillo

Project Manager, Marvel Themed Entertainment , Marvel Entertainment, LLC

David Pérez Balaguer

Strategic Director , Madhouse Productions

Carmen Costa

Graphic Designer , Madhouse Productions

Description

The central location of the book "Ready Player One" is The OASIS, a fully embodied VR metaverse that began as a game, but was so compelling, so useful and fun, that everyone - every person, every business, every institution and even every game - had to have a presence there. Sort of like the formative Internet in the 90s. This is fiction, of course, Mark Zuckerberg says we will soon regard Facebook as a "metaverse company." Epic Games (maker of Fortnite), announced their most recent funding round of one billion dollars will be spent building a metaverse. But how shall we define it? Who else is building - or has built - a metaverse? What technology does a metaverse require? What might its terminal form be? On which platforms - AR, VR, Mobile - will these virtual, social spaces manifest, when, and how?

Speakers

Charlie Fink

Consultant, Columnist, Author, Adjunct , Forbes

Description

In this session, we will release the latest data on the Chinese spatial computing market, and provide an overview of the current market landscape. CEOs of leading companies in the region will share their opinions on the latest trends, biggest challenges, and excitement to come. A taste of AWE Asia!

Speakers

Gavin Newton-Tanzer

President , AWE Asia, Sunrise International

Description

In this opening keynote for the 12th annual AWE, Ori Inbar - the founder of AWE and Super Ventures - will welcome the XR Community to the first in-person AR or VR event in 2 years (!) and will highlight the industry's recent achievements as it enters the mainstream. Mr. Inbar will then share his vision for the next decade and call attention to the responsibilities and challenges we all share in ensuring the new wave of Spatial Computing is harnessed to fight humanity's existential threats to create an inclusive, just, and meaningful world worth living in.

Speakers

Ori Inbar

Co-Founder , AWE and Super Ventures

Description

In this talk I will describe how AI-driven 3D avatars will help us enable the metaverse. I will motivate how digital humans will impact the future of communication, human-machine interaction, and content creation. I will present our latest 3D avatar digitization technology from Pinscreen from a single photo, and give a live demonstration. I will also showcase how we use hybrid CG and neural rendering solutions for real-time applications used in next generation virtual assistant and virtual production pipelines. I will also show case a demo of a fully autonomous virtual human that we have developed at Pinscreen. I will then present a real-time teleportation system that only uses a single webcam as input, and our latest efforts at UC Berkeley in real-time AI synthesis of entire scenes using NeRF representations.

Speakers

Hao Li

CEO & Founder , Pinscreen

Description

Mayo Clinic has a firm belief that the needs of the patient come first and a foundational culture that unites every health care provider, scientist, student, and trainee in a singular mission to provide hope and healing to the world. Through our education activities, we aim to develop the
workforce of the future and lifelong learners who are trained on new models of care delivery, and ready to keep pace with changes in technology over their careers.
As we move forward in a bold new direction, Mayo Clinic aims to bridge excellence in education and clinical practice across our enterprise by investing in immersive technologies to deliver one- of-a-kind educational and training experiences.
It's important to recognize that Mayo Clinic has 3 campuses in 3 states (AZ, FL, and MN) with 65,000+ staff and a College of Medicine & Science that includes 5 distinct schools (School of Graduate Medical Education, Alix School of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and School of Continuous Professional Development) with 4500+ active learners in 410+ subspeciality programs.
In this talk we will discuss Mayo Clinic’s current journey to strategically deploy Extended Reality (XR)-enabled education across our vast and diverse learner populations (i.e., surgical/medical trainees, staff, medical students, nurses, technicians, therapists, and patients). Additionally, we will provide insights into our preliminary work to utilize XR intraoperative navigation of patient-specific 3D data in the operating room using an expert-novice proctoring approach. Lastly, we will overview our new, bold-thinking strategy for establishing proper governance and collaborate leadership in an agile organization that is always learning and evolving — and moving fast — to expand knowledge and create new capabilities that will help transform health care delivery on behalf of patients.

Speakers

Jonathan Morris

Neuroradiologist , Mayo Clinic

Bob Morreale

Division Chair, Experiential Learning , Mayo Clinic

Description

The XR ecosystem continues to grow and expand as XR devices and services blur the lines between physical and digital. Join Hugo Swart, VP at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., as he talks about the exciting future of AR.

Speakers

Hugo Swart

VP & GM, XR , Qualcomm

Description

Digital Manufacturing technologies are of critical importance to The Boeing Company and other large manufacturers. The use of Augmented Reality as part of a production system offers significant benefits to cost and quality. Laura Bogusch is the Vice President for Materials and Manufacturing Research at the Boeing Company, where she leads a large international team developing a range of technologies that will enable Boeing to implement the most advanced capabilities in its manufacturing operations. In this talk, Laura will highlight her priorities that are focused on enabling a digital thread using Model Based Engineering, and the role that Augmented Reality plays.

Speakers

Laura Bogusch

VP, Manufacturing Technology , The Boeing Company

Description

Coming soon!

Speakers

Ori Inbar

Co-Founder , AWE and Super Ventures

Description

Working across different time zones with overseas partners is nothing new to the designers and engineers. During the pandemic shutdown, many of them learned to perfect these remote protocols, powered by affordable AR/VR hardware and software. As U.S. businesses get ready to return to the conference rooms and cubicles that have been sitting idle for the past 12-15 months, we ask a panel of AR/VR veterans to envision the role of AR/VR in the post-pandemic world.

Speakers

Ken Sobel

CoFounder , Hyperframe

Elizabeth Baron

Founder , Immersionary Enterprises

KENNETH WONG

Editor , Digital Engineering

Description

The view through a mixed reality device has proven to be key in manufacturing environments for spacecraft and many other industries. What happens when we turn the focus to the eyes, and the wealth of data they provide? Is this useful data? What can we tell simply by tracking the eyes? Join us for a discussion with the Barbara Bush Foundation, along with industry colleagues, on a new and creative way to apply mixed reality technology for literacy, and a look at how the technology can be used for a world of good.

Speakers

Shelley Peterson

Founder | XR Industry Pioneer , Wizard Wells

Cerilenne Menendez Mendoza

XR Lead , T-Mobile

Ted Dinsmore

President , SphereGen

Stephanie Moore

Fellow , Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy Inc

Description

Please join us to hear from our UK Delegation who will be talking about their Report ‘The Growing Value of XR in Healthcare in the UK’ It is the first of its kind to explore the use of XR in the UK’s healthcare sector today. Join the discussion and hear from experts on report findings and opportunities to collaborate with the UK and as a blueprint for other Governments to strategically consider how XR Healthcare can scale for their citizens

Speakers

Sarah Ticho

Co-Founder , XR Health Alliance

Neil Ralph

Head of Technology Enhanced Learning , Health Education England

Farhan Amin

Founder , Concept Health Technologies

Rhod Joyce

Deputy Director of Innovation Development , NHSx

Ross OBrien

Founder , XR Health Alliance

Description

Join Snap CTO Bobby Murphy for a conversation about the vision to "reinvent the camera," evolving the camera from a communication tool to an augmented reality platform. Learn how Snap is pushing the boundaries of augmented reality alongside creators, businesses, and the Snapchatter community, shaping how we experience the world around us.

Speakers

Lauren Goode

Senior Writer , WIRED

Brielle Garcia

Creative Technologist , Taco Lamp

Bobby Murphy

Chief Technology Officer , Snap, Inc.

Description

Marvel Studios looks to the future with a first-of-its-kind Augmented Reality (AR) story experience, for the release of "Eternals." Marvel Studios’ Eternals: AR Story Experience lets fans step into the film to discover the backstory, interact with Super Heroes, and bring the story right in their space. The latest technologies were used to deliver state-of-the-art storytelling — from volumetric capture to Apple's ARKit to brand new processes of displaying cinema-quality VFX on mobile devices.

Learn what it took to build this immersive iOS-exclusive mobile app from the ground up. Hear from the project leads, including: Dave Bushore (VP, Franchise Creative & Marketing for Marvel Studios), Mark Mine (Director, Technology Innovation for Disney Studios Content), and Daniel Baker (Senior Producer & Manager, Technology Innovation for Disney Studios Content).

To check out the experience, download it now in the App Store. And see the all new movie — now playing in theaters.

Speakers

Mark Mine

Director, Technology Innovation Group , Disney Studios Content

Daniel Baker

Senior Producer & Manager, Technology Innovation , Disney Studios Content

Description

An in-depth look from the frontlines at how Fortune 100s, ISVs, and SMBs are overcoming obstacles and achieving scale in enterprise, healthcare, and education.

Speakers

Brad Scoggin

CEO & Co-Founder , ArborXR

Description

Our panel of seasoned experts will address questions about the future of XR gaming. What are some of the most interesting opportunities in XR? How can XR be more social? How do you survive the experimental stage? How do you handle privacy and empathy? Our speakers include Sonya Haskins of VR Fitness Insider, David Levitt of Pantomime Corp., Tommy Palm of Resolution Games, and independent XR developer Patrick Hackett. Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat will moderate the session.

Speakers

Sonya Haskins

Head of Programming , AWE XR

Dean Takahashi

lead writer for GamesBeat , VentureBeat

Tommy Palm

CEO , Resolution Games

Patrick Hackett

Developer , Skillman & Hackett

David Levitt

CEO , Pantomime Corporation

Description

Science fiction writers, filmmakers and futurists have warned for years about the potential for a dystopian future where technology has created a dark, uninviting, hostile world. John Hanke, the Founder and CEO of Niantic, is here to tell you it doesn’t need to go that way. If the metaverse contemplates leading our lives inside of a computer network, the Real-World Metaverse will use technology to improve our experience of the real world, enriching it with fun and magic, and helping people lead richer, more fulfilling lives. But before you can enhance reality, you need to understand reality, and Hanke will outline Niantic’s vision of empowering developers and creators around the world with the Niantic Lightship platform. Learning lessons from technology transformations of the past, it’s incumbent on all of us to be more inclusive of different communities and more intentional about anticipating the downsides - as well as the upsides - of technology that will shape society and our lives over the coming decades.

Speakers

John Hanke

CEO and Founder , Niantic, Inc.

Description

CareAR, backed by ServiceNow and Xerox, is reinventing the service experience. In this session, Sam Waicberg, President of CareAR, will discuss market factors including growing workforce attrition, customer expectations, and ESG trends that all play a role in why change is inevitable. CareAR will also be showcasing new game changing capabilities that will revolutionize and help drive service transformation initiatives within organizations. CareAR has pioneered Service Experience Management, a new category that extends current service workflows, transforming service and customer experiences with break through outcomes. Based on the CareAR SXM™ platform, Augmented Reality powered with AI and Content delivery, expertise is instantly accessible and delivered with context at the time of need.

Speakers

Sam Waicberg

CEO & President , CareAR - A Xerox Company