Highlights from our VRARA Enterprise Forum 2022: We had 1370 attendees from 70 countries

Thank you everyone who participated in our annual VRARA Enterprise Forum! We had over 1370 attendees from 70 countries, and 50 speakers from around the world. We presented disruptive ideas and ground-breaking insights about Metaverse for the enterprise, digital twins, and digital transformation using immersive tech! Plus, many meaningful connections were build during our famous networking!

Here are the top highlights:

Speaker lineup included;

• Paul Jacobs, CEO and Chairman, XCOM - Extending Reality (Keynote)

• Brad Scoggin, Co-Founder & CEO, ArborXR - Why legacy MDMs are failing companies today in XR

• Vi Kellersohn CMO, Oberon Technologies - Identifying the ROI of VR Training for Your Business (Exelon, Schlumberger)

• Hans Elstner, CEO, rooom - Unleash the power of the metaverse

• Rolf Illenberger, CEO, VRdirect - How Enterprises can master the fragmented Metaverse ecosystems (Siemens, Nestle and Bayer)

• Matias Koski, Immersal (Hexagon) - How can Augmented Reality be used in industry solutions?

• Guido Helmerhorst, Co-founder & CGO, Warp VR - Training through 360VR stories results in mastery (Shell, ASML, Dutch Railroads, Erste Bank)

• Liang Guan GM, Rokid - Rokid AR Total Solution for Enterprise

• Donna Davis, PhD Director, Oregon Reality (OR) Lab, University of Oregon - My Work Avatar: Harnessing the Power of the Metaverse for Marketing and Communication

• Casey Sapp, CEO, Blue Ring Imaging - Enhanced ROV Performance Using Mixed Reality HUDs (multiple U.S. Dept of Defense contracts and commercial clients)

• John Lin, Founder & CEO, Xvisio Technology - Introductions to SeerLens One AR Glasses, Transforming Immersive Experiences for Work and Life

• Chris Verret, President, HTX Labs - From Warfighter to Workforce - Modernizing Critical Training with VR (US Air Force)

• Clint Kling, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology - VR: The New Age Training (CAT projects)

• Panel: (1) Nina Hoch Founder, Recalibrate XR (2) Faisal Galaria, CEO, Blippar (3) Lyn Dee, Founder, Four (4) Jessica Cobb, Founder, Mission Control Lab - Enterprise Adoption of XR: Trends and Challenges

• Abdul Rehman, ICESCO - Businesses in ICESCO member 54 countries and the MENA region are becoming increasingly interested in learning how to make the metaverse

• Panel: Cindy MalloryEmerging Tech Strategist, ATS - XR as an Enterprise Onramp to the Metaverse

Former CEO and Chairman of Qualcomm, Paul Jacobs, to Keynote at our VRARA Enterprise Forum on July 21

Paul Jacobs will give a live keynote about Extending Reality at our July 21 virtual event - VRARA Enterprise Forum, which is expected to gather 2000+ professionals from around the world.

Most real-world interactions involve multiple people and not just a single person. Why would the virtual world be any different? High fidelity experiences today tend to be tethered. What if those cables were cut? Have you felt motion sickness while using XR given the tethered experience can prevent natural movement though virtual spaces? What if you were able to walk through the content at your own pace instead of the experience coming at you?

The quality of content varies significantly depending on the type of headsets today, posing a challenge for the users and developers. What if the experience can be unlocked from the headset so developers can leverage high powered network elements to create the highest quality content without any constraints?

Paul founded XCOM in 2018 and at XCOM, they believe the best way to predict the future is to invent it. Earlier this year, XCOM unveiled their next-gen Wireless XR that enables the highest quality experiences for multiple users on-site while they move around freely. XCOM believes the possibilities for XR are endless.

Join the presentation and live Q&A!

See event website here

Paul Jacobs Bio

Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D., founded XCOM in 2018 to #keepinventing and to invest with the world’s most creative engineers and businesspeople.

As former CEO and Executive Chairman of Qualcomm, Dr. Jacobs spearheaded its efforts to develop and commercialize fundamental mobile technology breakthroughs that fueled the wireless internet and smartphone revolutions. During his tenure as CEO, Qualcomm’s revenues quadrupled, and its market capitalization doubled. Dr. Jacobs is a prolific inventor with over 80 U.S. patents granted or pending in the field of wireless technology and devices.

He served as a director of Qualcomm from June 2005 to March 2018, including as chairman of the board of directors from March 2009 to March 2018, and as executive chairman from March 2014 to March 2018. He served as chief executive officer from July 2005 to March 2014, and as group president of Qualcomm Wireless & Internet from July 2001 to July 2005. In addition, he served as an executive vice president of Qualcomm from February 2000 to June 2005.

Dr. Jacobs is on the Board of Directors of Dropbox, Inc., FIRST, and Heal, a private technology enabled medical care company. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science, M.S. in electrical engineering, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science. He founded Berkeley’s Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and was the university’s 2017 Alumnus of the Year. Dr. Jacobs is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

VRARA Enterprise Forum 2021 – Round Up by John Woods

By John Woods

The VRARA Enterprise Forum revealed some exciting updates for the VR/AR for enterprise space, with industry leaders Varjo, Lenovo, and Microsoft sharing essential news and insights for 2021 and beyond.

Throughout the event, more than 600 executives from automotive, aerospace, construction, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, and other sectors came together to hear the latest news from global brands leading the VR/AR for enterprise space.

Here are some of the critical updates we gathered from the event.

Varjo Talk Product Design With Mixed Reality

Leading hardware developers, Varjo, started the event with a keynote on the new age of product design with collaborative mixed reality.

Alongside a detailed look at all the latest features of the next-generation of its flagship XR-3 and VR-3 headsets, Head of Design and Research at Varjo, Hannah Nilson, explained how mixed reality is transforming the way businesses engage with customers in 2021 and beyond.

One feature of particular interest discussed during the event was the powerful Varjo Eye-tracking capabilities that enhance consumer research by giving detailed real-time analytics of customer experience in virtual or mixed reality stores based on their point of vision.

With this eye-tracking tool, Varjo tells us that businesses can now monitor and report on valuable metrics based on how customers view their products and what part of the product design best drives conversions.

Lenovo Discuss ThinkReality A3 Release

Lenovo also had some exciting updates to share regarding the upcoming release of its new ThinkReality A3 enterprise-grade augmented reality smart glasses.

While we still have no confirmed price or release date, the Hardware Product Manager of Commercial AR/VR at Lenovo, Mike Lohse, told us the company is currently putting the final touches on its device ahead of the forecasted launch in Q2 2021.

Some of the final touches Lohse mentioned during the keynote included better drop impact protection on the A3 Industrial Edition and the possible inclusion of a second battery pack and software optimization to reduce battery consumption.

He also mentioned that while the ThinkReality A3 currently offers mobile support for Motorola handsets alone, the company is looking to expand its offering to other mobile developers in the future.  

Microsoft Demonstrates Value of Enterprise MR 

Following on from their Microsoft HoloLens Forum and Microsoft Ignite events earlier this year, Microsoft sent Azure Mixed Reality Lead for Microsoft Canada, Sean Graglia, to the VRAR Enterprise Forum to discuss the accelerating value of enterprise MR.

During his keynote, Graglia explained how mixed reality is transforming enterprises across the spectrum, from remote collaboration and training through to sales assistance, design, and prototyping.

According to sources mentioned during the presentations, global spending on mixed reality is expected to reach an astonishing USD 160 billion by 2023, with 87% of large companies already exploring, piloting, or deploying the technology today.

Garcias also added that at least one-third of enterprises would support mixed reality experience platforms, including augmented reality, by 2021, proving how quickly adoption of VR/AR tech is already spreading through the world of big business.

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