Agenda

Description

Marco Tempest specializes in developing immersive experiences of future technologies. Taking ideas about advanced technology, how we might interact with it, and finding innovative ways to bring those concepts alive. In his keynote presentation for AWE USA 2022 he will debut ultraportable real-time virtual production techniques, storytelling, gestural sensing and swarm robotics to give us a glimpse of a delightful augmented future right now.

Speakers

Marco Tempest

Creative Technologist , NASA Jet Propulsion Labratory

Description

Mixed reality wearables are coming, and with it an opportunity to turn users into protagonists in their own interactive story. Casting the user as the role of lead character poses many narrative, technical, and usability challenges that have never before needed to be solved. This new form of entertainment will be prolific and provide opportunity for a new generation of storytellers.

Through invention, prototyping, and iteration, we created Forensic Detective, an immersive augmented reality experience that rose to number 2 in entertainment in the App store.

Join Brett Bagenstose, Principal and self titled “Baron of Pixels” of NeoPangea along with Kris Soumas, Director, Content Strategy & Partnerships of Verizon Consumer Group, for a fascinating glimpse into the world of immersive storytelling through AR, and find out how you can tap this new resource to make your own story come to life in a whole new way.

Speakers

Kristen Soumas

Dir., Consumer Content Partnerships , Verizon

Brett Bagenstose

Principal , NeoPangea

Description

There are very few technologies that have truly impacted the way humans live. Telecommunications was one, the Internet was another. Fitness has been the same since the days of Chariots of Fire and the rules we adhere to go back centuries. However, we now have VR (and AR on the horizon) enabling experiences in fitness that we didn’t think possible a short time ago. This is the most exciting time for the fitness industry. It's time to think completely differently about the category. VR has the ability to be the most authentic fitness platform available because of its immersion. Immersion leads to real results. Which is exactly what is needed to help combat a growing sedentary population throughout the world.

Speakers

Ben Jones

Chief Product Officer , FitXR

Billy Davis

FitXR

Description

As the Metaverse continues to grow, it's essential that we discuss the development of a humanity-first approach in regards to standards of education, accessibility, safety, privacy, wellness, equality and community development.

Join Dr. Muhsinah Morris for a Fireside Chat with Christopher Lafayette as he shares ideas gleaned from the GatherVerse community as well as the greater tech community with a focus on global communities for the Metaverse.

Speakers

Christopher Lafayette

Founder , GatherVerse

Muhsinah Morris

Metaversity Director and Professor , Morehouse College

Description

No longer just an idea, a multitude of players, brands and OEMs are bringing the Metaverse to life. Join Hugo Swart, VP and GM of XR at Qualcomm Technologies Inc., as he talks about the constellation of devices and exciting developer tools like Snapdragon Spaces that will drive truly immersive spatial computing experiences. As the leader of the XR team at Qualcomm, Hugo has a front row seat into the platforms, technologies and solutions under development that are your ticket to the Metaverse.

Speakers

Hugo Swart

VP & GM, XR , Qualcomm

Description

Though many companies investing billions into metaverse technology are competitors, they share a common interest in creating a shared digital universe. To enable an open future where assets are able to move freely and work consistently across the entire digital universe, the metaverse needs standards that combat fragmentation and preserve openness.

Hundreds of industry leaders are working to enable the transition from the development of 3D assets to metaverse assets and explore the roles open standards and open source software will play in the creation of portable, interoperable metaverse scenes and objects.

Join leaders from The Khronos Group, Academy Software Foundation, and the Worldwide Web Consortium as they discuss how companies, creators, and standards developers can work together to make sure the tools required for an open metaverse are not just available, but ubiquitous and robust.

Speakers

Neil Trevett

President , Khronos Group

Aysegul Yonet

Software Engineer , Microsoft - Mixed Reality Development

Suzan Oslin

Director of Spatial Experiences , UXXR Design

David Morin

Industry Relations at Epic Games; Ex. Dir. at Academy Software Foundation , Epic Games - Unreal Engine

Description

Discover how Red 6 has executed the development of the first multi-player video game in the sky and lead to the creation of the most advanced training platform to date.

Red 6’s technology leverages an environment where a persistent ubiquitous layer of connected data and metadata interact seamlessly with the real-world. Decisions made within the metaverse now, for the first time, have live, physical consequences for the trainee, resulting in a more immersive experience.

Daniel Robinson, Founder and CEO of Red 6, will share how this technology is advancing the readiness of our nation’s armed forces and how Red 6’s technology is the genesis of the Military Metaverse.

Speakers

Daniel Robinson

Founder and CEO , RED 6

Description

Where are we in the course of spatial computing’s lifecycle? Where are AR and VR having an impact today… and where aren’t they? What's the fate of Apple's market entrance? And will Meta's big metaverse bet pay off? We’ll tackle these and other burning questions with a multidisciplinary panel of industry thought leaders, innovators, and heavy hitters.

Speakers

Catherine D. Henry

SVP Growth, Metaverse & Innovation Strategy , Media.Monks

Ted Schilowitz

Futurist , Paramount

Mike Boland

Chief Analyst , ARtillery Intelligence

Charlie Fink

Consultant, Columnist, Author, Adjunct , Forbes

Alvin Graylin

Global VP of Corporate Development , HTC

Description

Guests Benny Arbel along with Helen Freeman will cover how education is the only area of our lives that the digital revolution has not significantly improved. The experience gap between children's education and consumer life is massive and still growing. How Inception along with leading educational publishers like Oxford University Press is overcoming those barriers. Why XR is a key to ushering in the long-awaited digitization of children's education.

Speakers

Benny Arbel

Founder and CEO , InceptionXR

Helen Freeman

Director of Oxford Children's Books , Oxford University Press Inc

Description

As designers and developers build AR and VR hardware, applications and content, how can they make sure they are inclusively designed so that everyone - including those who identify as people with disabilities - can access, enjoy and benefit from them? How can AR and VR designers and developers leverage inclusive design and development practices to consider many aspects of human diversity such as ability, language, culture, gender, and age? What are some of the broader benefits of designing more accessible AR and VR such as broader usability for people with temporary impairments or people in different environments and use cases. In this session, panelists will explore these and other topics related to XR Accessibility as well as share a variety of practical community XR accessibility design and development resources.

Speakers

Pia Zaragoza

UX Mentor at Springboard and White House Presidential Innovation Fellow , Springboard

Bill Curtis-Davidson

Co-Director, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) , PEAT

Dylan Fox

Head of Community and Outreach , XR Access

Stephanie Montgomery

Senior VP of Research and Best Practices , XR Association

Nirav Desai

CEO , Moonbeam

Description

The annual Auggie Awards have been the most recognized industry AR & VR awards show in the world since 2010. Now in its 13th year, the Auggies continue to showcase the best of the best in augmented and virtual reality. Winners will be presented with a prestigious Auggie Award live on stage.

Speakers

Ori Inbar

Co-Founder , AWE and Super Ventures

Description

Shopping in the virtual world is still in its early days. Virtual showrooms and Virtual product experiences on the other hand have gradually evolved to a level where consumers can get a realistic shopping experience, even on the Web. Metadome.ai is building a unique Metaverse experience where Auto and Retail brands can host their products and create immersive shopping journeys for their customers. Our experiences empower users to create virtual avatars and have the maximum degree of freedom to interact, configure and play with the virtual world via virtual test drive and other gamification modules. A seamless user journey, with highly optimised load times and programmatic compression, helps us to load 3D content as fast as 2D content, across all platforms and devices.

Come experience with us, as we bring the real world aspects into the Metaverse, overcoming the slips of a disconnected digital journey, and transforming the marketing and sales funnel by pushing the boundaries to make the virtual world more reliable, relatable, and realistic.

Speakers

Kanav Singla

Founder & CEO , Metadome

Description

Join HP Extended Reality experts as they discuss the current state and challenges facing VR business deployments. You’ll come away with an exciting new timely software solution ExtendXR that addresses the urgent market need for end-to-end mid to large organization XR deployment and management.

Talking Points:

· Showcase positive impacts that demonstrate the VR at the commercial tipping point

· How VR sets the stage for end-to-end XR solutions

· Highlight more immediate challenges and struggles

· Solutions that address these challenges for a more comprehensive commercial XR approach

Speakers

Scott Rawlings

XR Commercial Solutions Senior Product Manager , HP

Description

With promises of the metaverse making headlines around the world and consumer spending on video gaming in the U.S. totaling over $60.4 billion in 2021, defining where you fit in this rapidly evolving landscape is more important now than ever before. In this session, join Joanna Popper, Global Head of VR, Go-to-Market at HP and Roblox VP of Product Bjorn Book-Larsson for a fireside chat exploring the keys to human co-experience in digital worlds in an effort to empower aspiring developers and brands as they seek to define their entry path, zeroing in on the importance of identity and a shared fabric.

Speakers

Bjorn Book-Larrson

VP of Product , Roblox

Joanna Popper

Chief Metaverse Officer , Creative Artists Agency Inc

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

David Weeks

Producer & COO , AWE Asia, Sunrise International

Description

"The metaverse." How did a term go from the pages of sci-fi literature to being the tech industry’s next multibillion dollar bet? And how did our industry end up speaking about something with such conviction with no agreed-upon definition? Join John Riccitello, CEO of Unity, as he breaks down the tech industry’s word du jour, what the metaverse is and isn’t and how brands can get beyond the buzzwords.

Speakers

John Riccitiello

CEO , Unity

Description

Omni-channel shopping experiences for consumers today lack the real context of the purchase decision. There is significant cognitive load on the consumer to imagine how a couch in a physical store would look in their living room, or how an image of a refrigerator would fit into their kitchen. Join Sravanth Aluru (Founder & CEO) from Avataar as he talks of how the camera has now evolved as the new home page, where consumers will browse, search & discover products in the context of their own space, and compare similar products or mix & match multiple products. Get a sneak-peek at how leading retailers today are using camera AI/CV to bridge the gap between today’s flat screen devices and tomorrow’s wearables.

Speakers

Sravanth Aluru

Founder & CEO , Avataar

Description

An overview of Magic Leap 2 and how it will power the next leap forward in enterprise AR.

Speakers

Jade Meskill

VP of Product , Magic Leap

Description

Coming Soon!

Speakers

Antti Sunnari

CEO , Dispelix

Description

VR esports take competitive gaming to the next level through a combination of technology and physicality. For the past couple of days the team you'll see here on stage, along with PeskyCashew (Asst Leagues Director) and Damage (Business Relations/Marketing Director), have offered an introduction to VR esports in the AWE Playground.

Now we invite you to sit back and enjoy a quick mini-competition featuring Ready At Dawn's Echo Arena. Watch professional players duck, jump, and dodge as they try to score goals in a 2v2 match that will require skill and precise cooperation with their teammate.

Don't miss this exciting on-stage demo as players compete for the win and the glory while professional casters from VR Esports League (VREL) give play-by-play commentary on the action!

Speakers

Christopher Vezina

Founder , VR ESPORTS LEAGUE

Nathan "V-Tach" Baker

Digital Operations Manager , VR Esports League (VREL)

Kevin Austin "PigOnPCin4K" Goldstein

Esports Commentator/Asst Media Director , VR Esports League (VREL)

Nareg "Nutmeg" Djabrayan

Director of Social Media , VR Esports League (VREL)

Jade Michael

Pro VR Esports Player, Community Moderator , VR Esports League (VREL)

Dewey Blankenship

Founder , VR Party League

Amy Stormant

Content Creator | Reporter , VR Community Builders