Agenda

Description

How does Niantic empower AR everywhere? Come see the latest in state of the art AR games, tools and technologies to unlock location-based and mobile phone AR, from apps to the web and beyond.

Speakers

Brian McClendon

Senior VP of Engineering , Niantic

Description

The way we work is changing at a rapid pace, propelled by the fast adoption of digital technologies, and normalization of remote and hybrid working.
Organizations are already boarding the XR bandwagon, especially for hard skills – and there is growing need to integrate XR in other areas including soft skills, workplace learning and capacity building, as well as the overall employee experience and motivation- which are enhanced by the use of VR and AR.

This comes at a time when the younger generation is already using and becoming more comfortable with XR, thereby setting an expectation that organizations utilize these tools when they become part of the workforce.

This panel will discuss the changing workplace and the various dimensions of integrating XR within organizations giving food for thought to reimagine the future of work.

Speakers

Thomas Kauer

Innovation Digital Product Manager , Major Wealth Management Firm

Nirav Desai

CEO , Moonbeam

Renu Ramakrishnan

Head of Learning Experiences & Client Services , Edstutia

Louise Edwards

Education Consultant & VR Developer , DredwardsVR Consulting

Description

It was recently announced that the Quest Store has made over $1.5 billion on sales of games and apps. With new headsets coming into the market steadily, how do VR game creators adapt to the ever-expanding VR ecosystem? New technologies that greatly affect game feel are released on a regular basis, such as hand tracking, haptics in headsets, mixed reality etc. How can creators stay ahead of the curve when designing a game that won't be released for months or years? Despite the fact that the player base expands and potential for ROI improves, there are still only a few active publishers in the VR space - who are they, and what are they looking for? Is self-publishing of VR titles sustainable?

Speakers

Celine Tricart

President, Co-Founder , Coven

Michael Masukawa

VP of Business Development, Strategy and Partnerships , Atlas V

Amy Allison

VR Marketing and Community , Women In Games

Maeva Sponbergs

CMO & Head of Publishing , Beyond Frames Entertainment AB (publ)

Paul Brady

Co-Founder and President , Resolution Games

Description

Hear how PwC is experimenting with the metaverse and implementing these new technologies into the workplace – to bring teams together, connect employees across the globe, and create a shared sense of culture across their entire organization.

Speakers

Mikayla Graham

Innovation leader for Acceleration Centers , PwC

Alex Howland

Co-Founder and CEO , Virbela

Description

Though tech giants like Netflix, Microsoft, and Google are pressing pause on metaverse ambitions in light of economic headwinds and spiraling hype cycles, spatial data is powering virtual environments that drive real benefits and practical utility for enterprise functions and consumer applications. Yet creating an immersive, effective, and agile spatial lake—deep enough to power the metaverse—requires three key functional layers to (1) create and manage, (2) build and operate, and (3) deliver and interact at scale. In this panel, spatial computing expert David Randle (Global Head of Spatial Computing GTM at AWS) moderates a panel with meta-world-makers Josh Rush (CEO at Surreal Events), Ryan Smith (Head of Product at RapidCompact by DGG), and Dan O’Brien (GM Americas at HTC VIVE) to discuss the formula for creating a “Spatial Lakehouse” solution strong enough to make the metaverse matter to employees, clients and consumers alike.

Speakers

Dave Randle

Principal GTM Specialist | Spatial Computing , AWS

Josh Rush

Co-Founder & CEO , SURREAL EVENTS

Dan O'Brien

HTC Vive Gen. Mgr. | President Americas , HTC Vive

Ryan Smith

Head of Product , DGG

Description

Fans don’t just want to watch the game - they want to be a part of the experience. To engage their attention, fans demand a personalized, emotional experience, with increasing pressure to show innovation. Tech enabled experiences provide brands an opportunity to gain insights on their fans (their needs, motivations, etc.), and become more influential in their purchasing decisions.

Whether digital platforms, AR, VR, AI, holograms, or NFTs, the gamification of the fan experience is an example of the way teams and brands can optimize consumer interactions to increase sales, analyze customer engagement, and measure partnerships. From pre-event, to on-site, to at-home, and post game experiences, our fireside chat will explore how brands can leverage XR to connect with consumers, build fanbases, and influence opinion.

Speakers

James Giglio

CEO and Founder , MVP Interactive

Bobby Basham

Director, Baseball Innovation , Chicago Cubs

Natascha French

CEO , Scale Strategies

Description

In a fast-evolving world of technology, staying ahead of the curve and pushing creative and technological boundaries with AR is not just beneficial, but essential. Join Resh Sidhu and Ben Feuerstein, the founders of Snapchat's AR Creative Studio, as they unveil their key principles for building industry-leading AR experiences with the Snap AR platform.

During this talk, they'll share principles for AR development on Lens Studio backed by real-world examples of experiences that have captivated festival-goers with Live Nation, transformed fashion with Vogue, and brought wonder to Coca-Cola. Whether you're a brand, a developer, or simply curious about the latest advancements in Snap AR’s technology, this is a unique opportunity to learn from experts and gain practical insights and innovative ideas.

Get ready to be inspired, educated, and amazed by the incredible possibilities of Snap AR, and how it can help you meet the ever-changing demands of today’s consumers.

Speakers

Resh Sidhu

Global Director, Arcadia Creative Studio , Snap, Inc.

Ben Feuerstein

Head of Business, Ops & Innovation, Arcadia Creative Studio , Snap, Inc.

Description

Delta Air Lines is the U.S. global airline leader in safety, innovation, reliability, and customer experience. Powered by its employees around the world, Delta has, for a decade, led the airline industry in operational excellence while building on its reputation for award-winning customer service.

Creating a safe environment for its employees and customers is one of Delta's top priorities. As such, it is imperative that new employees go through rigorous training to do their job safely and effectively to achieve the high-quality service that Delta is known for.

This talk delves into the benefits and challenges of using a virtual reality first design approach for creating interactive training simulations. We explore the advantages of utilizing VR technology to enhance learning and development and how designing with full VR interactivity in mind leads to more effective training outcomes. We will then discuss the impact of adding moderator capabilities into an iPad companion app to enhance the experience for the person in virtual reality and test their skills at a higher level.

Find how Delta identified the intended means of distribution and deployment, as well as the process for determining if WebXR (desktop version of the VR simulation) is a viable solution. We will share the process of adapting the virtual reality simulations for use on desktop platforms to increase accessibility for a wider audience while still preserving immersion. The presentation will cover topics such as the process of designing simulations that are both immersive and effective and the technical considerations involved in adapting VR simulations for use on desktop platforms.

This session will leave attendees with the following takeaways:

• Deeper understanding of how to design and develop training simulations that take full advantage of the unique capabilities of VR technology

• Benefits of intentional design

• How to translate VR simulations to other platforms for maximum reach and impact

• Considerations for prototyping and production before you start your own project

• Technical considerations for designing simulations that can be used in both virtual reality and desktop environments

Speakers

Annie Eaton

CEO , Futurus

Kevin Marcum

Program Manager , Delta Air Lines

Description

IEEE Future Directions drives efforts on current, new and emerging technologies for humans and the digital world. Hear about the latest initiative on the metaverse and how IEEE is advancing and navigating in this space.

Speakers

Nicholas Napp

Co-Founder , Xmark Labs

Dejan Milojicic

Distinguished Technologist , Hewlett Packard Labs

Jeewika Ranaweera

Vice Chair, IEEE Future Directions , IEEE

Kathy Grise

Future Directions Senior Program Director , IEEE

Description

With various companies announcing their support for WebXR, there is an acute need to understand its advantages and disadvantages. How does performance and visual fidelity compare? How do you monetize? Can you even build big projects on the web?

In their talk, Jonathan Hale, CEO & founder of Wonderland, and Lydia Berry, COO of “The Fitness Resort” will answer your pressing questions about VR, AR and MR on the web.

Speakers

Jonathan Hale

CEO & Founder , Wonderland Engine

Lydia Berry

Chief Operations Officer , The Fitness Resort

Description

Zheng Qin has since 2018 developed the cutting edge, wide FoV AR optics system called Mixed Waveguide, with the most advanced Crossfire solution that gives you a 120-degree FoV and is interchangeable between AR and VR. It’s even slimmer than most VR optics (including the Pancake solutions), so it could be the ultimate optical solution for AR & VR hybrid glasses. Zheng will walk you through the reasons why Crossfire is much better than its competitor Pancake +VST (video see-through) solution. Additionally, Zheng will introduce the whole family of Mixed Waveguide solutions, which has been adopted by many key clients around the world.

Speakers

Zheng Qin

Founder , Ant Reality

Description

AI is rapidly being adopted into game development, providing developers the ability to increase game quality and create new experiences for players, while dramatically reducing time and cost to market. This panel features leaders in the spaces of generative AI for game development, who are driving the next wave of AI technology that will transform how games are made moving forward. Verónica Orvalho, CEO & Founder of Didimo, an AI-based NPC and character generation platform, will lead a discussion on how their platform is helping game devs create thousands of unique, fully-animated characters for their worlds in a matter of hours. Emmanuel de Maistre, CEO and Co-Founder of Scenario, will share how his team is helping game titles generate high-quality assets at scale. And Kylan Gibbs, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Inworld AI will detail how they can bring advanced NPC behavior & unscripted dialogue to games. These leaders will discuss their visions for how game studios can use innovative AI tools to both greatly enhance upcoming projects and cut costs at the same time.

Speakers

Kylan Gibbs

CPO , Inworld AI

Emmanuel de Maistre

Co-founder & CEO , Scenario

Veronica Orvalho

CEO and Founder , Didimo

Emilie Joly

CEO , Zoe Immersive Inc

Description

When people think of emerging technology such as AI, XR, and more, consumer activities and gaming tend to dominate the conversation. But with ongoing business disruptions, including persistent labor shortages and widening skills gaps, business applications could emerge on top for these technological developments in 2023. In fact, according to Deloitte, the U.S. manufacturing industry alone is expected to have 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030. There is a need for digital transformation.

From retailers to manufacturers, businesses are looking to the functionality of generative AI, XR and other enterprise technology to enhance operations, especially regarding training for high-risk, industrial jobs. High impact industries such as manufacturing and construction are just a couple of the real-world environments where employee mistakes can prove fatal.

While traditional classroom settings can bolster learning retention, most acquire 70% of the necessary skills from the type of experiential learning that XR training provides.

Additionally, in an age of social media and the internet, training manuals and long-form video or training sessions are no longer effective. The attention span of the average millennial is 8 seconds, and with millennials anticipated to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025, the need for an upgrade of existing training will never be higher. 

In the future, if new hires have access to intuitive and immersive training, not only will the process become more interactive, personalized and therefore more easily applied, but also workplace accidents could be reduced significantly – meaning more lives could be saved.

In this presentation, Jinhwan An, Senior Manager of New Business Development at LG Electronics and Entrepreneur in Residence at LG NOVA, LG Electronics’ North American Innovation Center, will discuss:

• An outlook of the future of training– including AI, XR, and remote learning
• How businesses can leverage smart technologies in workforce training, and the infrastructure needed to support the digital transformation
• Real-life companies and case studies who are developing this technology with large corporate partners

Speakers

Jinhwan An

Sr Mgr of Business Development , LG NOVA

Ali Merchant

CEO , iQ3Connect

Christoph Leuze

Founder & CEO , Nakamir

Description

In this presentation, we introduce the innovative PinTILT™ structure, which combines the best of traditional waveguides and birdbath structures, incorporating both pupil expansion and pupil forming functionalities.

Speakers

Jeong Hun HA

CTO , LetinAR

Description

Almalence presents a set of ISP techniques enabling high picture quality beyond optical hardware limitations in VR/AR head-mounted displays by dynamically compensating for the optical system deficiencies specific to the optical path at a given eye position.

Optical hardware design constraints inherent to head-mounted displays compromise the image quality and visual experience in VR/AR. Even the latest-and-greatest devices retain the common flaws spoiling user experience: poor image detail, blur and color fringing outside of the small “sweet spot,” geometry distortion when moving the gaze direction, and low picture resolution of the outer world captured via pass-through cameras.

In the session, we will explore why dynamic optical aberrations correction, distortion correction, and super-resolution algorithms are indispensable to achieving high visual quality in head-mounted displays. We will also see examples of picture quality improvement those computational techniques produce on the highest-end VR displays from Pico, Varjo, and HP.

Speakers

Eugene Panich

CEO , Almalence

Description

Join us for a presentation of a new metaverse social platform where people can gather, communicate, and express themselves digitally.

Speakers

Michael Chong

CEO , Seerslab

Donghwa (Jerry) Jang

Corporate Development Manager , Seerslab

Description

By bringing together the learnings of hardware solutions from NuEyes Technologies with the user experience design from 302 Interactive's team of game designers, we've created NuLoupes - a solution that supports medical practitioners to leverage augmented reality in their training and operational practice.
Fraser Bowie (NuEyes) and Kyle Morrand (302) will be taking you through the journey of designing the ergonomics and UX needed for healthcare applications that work for both patients and practitioners and share their vision of what comes next.

Speakers

Fraser Bowie

CPO , NuEyes Technology, Inc.

Kyle Morrand

CEO , 302 Interactive

Description

A healthy creative ecosystem, with diverse technologists and artists working in a wide variety of modes and methodologies, is absolutely critical to our cultural climate. It also makes better art, and better products.

Interdisciplinarity requires flexibility to build collaborative trust and to merge or understand the possibilities of practical capabilities like technologies and instruments, and others' creative and technical expertise.

Limber connective tissue is needed for interdisciplinary practice and may take some warming up, or time to learn new creative language or workflows. Opportunity for creative frictions and cross-pollination can bring inspiration toward new pursuits, or nourish existing practice. Meaningful inclusivity takes thoughtfulness.

In this panel, we will discuss some challenges and strategies for functional creative and technical interdisciplinary collaboration.

Speakers

Sarah Ellis

Director of Digital Development , Royal Shakespeare Company

Ellen Oh

Dir. of Interdisciplinary Arts Programs / Stanford Arts Incubator , Stanford University

Valencia James

Director , Creator

Ruthie Doyle

Director, Interdisciplinary Program , Sundance Institute

Description

Craig will present an outlining of how Contact CI has come to define Multi-Force Ergonomic Haptics, sharing our approach and the story of building Maestro EP, all while providing examples and evidence for why MFE haptics are important and impactful in generating an immersive sense of touch for a range of VR/AR users.

Speakers

Craig Douglass

CEO , Contact CI

Description

Over the last two decades, 3D capture has become a core technology used in nearly every field from architecture and construction, to VFX and gaming. In 2022, a novel machine learning technique called NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields) became accessible and rapidly started shifting the way we approach 3D capture.

Originally introduced in a 2020 academic paper, NeRF first became accessible to creators when NVIDIA released their "Instant NGP" research tool two years later. In recent months, it has rapidly become a consumer-ready technology with platforms like Luma AI dramatically lowering the barrier of entry.

Using NeRF, anyone is now empowered to create stunningly detailed captures of scenes with unparalleled photorealism from simple photo or video input without requiring expensive specialized hardware. By leveraging emerging AI methodologies, it leapfrogs previous capture techniques while reducing the need for human labor resulting in a dramatic reduction in the cost of creating VFX-grade 3D scenes.

With its advanced capabilities and efficiency, NeRF is revolutionizing how industries think about 3D capture and enabling a future where anybody can capture truly immersive memories.

Speakers

Amit Jain

Founder , Luma AI

Jonathan Klein

Managing Director , PropTech Consulting