Miami

Recap of Miami NFT Week with our VRARA Miami and Immerse teams, Plus, real estate mogul Grant Cardone and Scoutible, a metaverse funded by Mark Cuban

Miami NFT Week drew nearly 4,000 attendees (plus 3K+ in the metaverse) in celebration of all things NFT/metaverse, with a busy exhibit area, a very Miami vibe, after-parties and some 200+ speakers coming from the worlds of gaming, art, music, sports, travel, fashion, real estate and more. The event inspired many to create this world in real time, together with the internet that metaverse will be the next step in the evolution of the digital world.

An amazing lineup of speakers and discussions on innovation, NFTs, web3, crypto, and fun time sharing immersive experiences in partnership with our VRARA Miami, immerse Global Summit, and the BitBasel team. The speakers list included many from the Miami ecosystem, including Grant Cardone (real estate mogul) and Angela Antony, the Miami-based founder and CEO of Scoutible (a metaverse funded by Mark Cuban).

Grant said he is only just beginning to explore and asked his Metaverse & Real Estate panelists why he should invest and how to securitize virtual real estate? How much will it cost? What should I offer? Panelists answered don’t be in a rush, but look to add insane value. Also, smart contracts will be the utility (no more need for title companies!) and blockchain ensure the ownership, making it easier to make investing decisions and to manage the property.

Angela Antony discussed the potential of metaverse helping us find the value of our human potential. 85% of us don’t like our jobs, she said. Scoutible is the first gamified professional metaverse designed to help anyone find and achieve their purpose. Scoutible transforms the outdated barriers in today's job market, revealing an unbiased future where everyone has better opportunities and true freedom of choice in their livelihoods. Her famous funder, Mark Cuban, said  Scoutible will allow people to “Learn 2 Earn“ hard skills and soft skills “Careers are dead; everyone is a free agent. I’m a big believer that everyone is amazing at something. We allow you to find your passion,” Cuban said.

The event also celebrated Miami’s aspiration to be the Crypto Capital, the vision of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. Suarez also spoke of the “Miami Miracle” and said Miami understands this opportunity: “We embrace this opportunity. Having been to all part of the world, they know what is happening here and they are scared.. These kinds of democratizing technologies like NFTs are going to change the world. They are going to create access for everyone, and as a city and a country and a world we’ve got to take advantage of it. We cannot create regulations that stifle it,” the mayor continued. “I call upon all of you to continue to believe, continue to build, to create, to innovate.”

Bored Apes (Miami based NFT startup that raised $450M in funding and is valued at US$4B) gets all the buzz now and there will always be a place for digital collectibles, NFT use cases are growing and offering real utility. We’re going to see consumer brands launch seemingly out of nowhere that really understand web3. New platforms that will rise up as well as players like Coinbase, Snapchat and Instagram (launching NFTs soon!) will have the ability to drive billions of users into the space if done in the right way.

This 3-day Miami NFT Week also kicked off the Miami Tech Month! Lots is happening in Miami..


Edwin Rivera named as Advisor to Miami Chapter of VR/AR Association

Edwin Rivera, a recognized expert in the field of Augmented Reality, has been named as an Advisor to the Miami Chapter of VRARA), South Florida’s leading Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality organization. 

Supporting the VR and AR community in South Florida through quarterly events featuring noted speakers and networking opportunities, VRARA’s Miami mission is to educate, connect and grow the area’s VR/AR ecosystem.

“Edwin has been in this field and has been a driving force in VR/AR for more than a decade,” said Miami Chapter President Tarja Stephens. “His wealth of knowledge about the VR/AR field and its practical applications—based upon his years in the industry—is an invaluable asset to VRARA.” 

Rivera launched CG1 Solutions —a South Florida information technology firm which is rapidly becoming a leader in Augmented Reality (AR) with clients ranging from the healthcare to consumer products industries—in the third quarter of 2021.

As a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), CG1 Solutions has specialized in providing engaging solutions for a wide variety of clients such as Walmart, West Kendall Baptist Hospital, Scope AR, Disney Consumer Products, Alliance Laundry Systems, Synnova Health, Mitsubishi and iNewton.

In addition to his impressive list of CG1 Solutions client, Rivera’s current ground-breaking work with Microsoft and South Florida-based Piece of Cake Bakers will enable adults with disabilities to use leading edge technology to be trained for future careers in the baking industry, thus turning these individuals into productive members of society.

 “Being a part of an organization such as VRARA, which is dedicated to growing our industry in the South Florida marketplace, is certainly an honor,” said Rivera, a former Desert Storm Marine. “VR and AR have come of age and are accepted by the public and businesses alike. Now it is time to put the fantastic benefits of this industry to practical, day-to-day usage that will make all of our lives better.”

For more information the Miami Chapter of VRARA, contact Tarja Stephens at miami@thevrara.com

VRARA Miami urges students to shape the metaverse

The VR/AR Association Miami Chapter held is event on the Univ of Miami campus last week, opening its arms to students and faculty members interested in immersive technology.

A clothing line created specifically for avatars. Flight training simulators that rival a real-life experience in the air. And a digital replica of a city to attract new businesses, with the ability for visitors to walk the landscape, see the infrastructure, and observe properties available—all in virtual reality.

These projects already exist using immersive technology.

Industry leaders from the virtual, mixed, and augmented reality fields challenged students to think about what else is possible in the metaverse Thursday night during a launch of the VR/AR Association’s Miami chapter hosted on the Coral Gables Campus at the Bill Cosford Cinema.

“How will these technologies change the way we play, learn, and work?” asked John Cunningham, president of the Central Florida VR/AR Association, who works as head of government and aerospace for Unity, a software tool used to build virtual and augmented reality experiences.

The University of Miami recently became a member of the VR/AR Association (VRARA), allowing all faculty members and students to take advantage of the professional organization’s stockpile of resources available to help create applications in virtual, mixed, and augmented reality. Kim Grinfeder, associate professor and chair of the Department of Interactive Media and director of the XR Initiative, joined the organization a few years ago and found it very useful, so he worked to get the entire University involved.

“Faculty and students will now have access to their educational materials, job search platforms, online training classes, research, and a network of companies and industry professionals working in the immersive space,” said Grinfeder, who shared student and faculty XR projects during the event, including a class he is co-teaching where both students and professors attend in virtual reality.

The international VRARA, which has chapters in 50 countries, had just one chapter in central Florida, started four years ago. With the launch of its Miami chapter, led by Tarja Stevens, chief executive of Metaverse Inclusive, the organization will tap into a growing South Florida tech industry, and VRARA founder and president Nathan Pettyjohn was excited about the new addition.

“We started this because we knew that we needed to build a community of people that could help each other grow their business, help them connect, and help them learn,” said Pettyjohn, who also works full time at Lenovo as its Commercial AR/VR lead. “Today, we have thousands of community members. So, there’s this awesome group of people striving to do more in this industry, and we are trying to help all of them achieve greatness,” he added.

During the launch, titled “The Intersection of AI and the Metaverse,” Cunningham and keynote speaker Amy Peck, the CEO of Endeavor XR, tried to debunk the notion that the metaverse is a new concept. First coined in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel “Snow Crash,” the term was popularized by Facebook’s new rebrand as Meta, although Peck said it is often misunderstood. One simple way of understanding the metaverse is “It’s the internet in 3D,” she said.

Peck encouraged the audience to think about how they can shape the metaverse, as it evolves and becomes more commonplace. The CEO said that she imagines a time soon when people will simply put on their glasses while they are walking down the street, and if they wonder what a building looked like in the 1800s, an image will appear on the lens. Or, if they are curious about someone’s profession, the glasses could pull up a LinkedIn profile.

Cunningham explained how virtual reality has quickly expanded from a tool to enhance video games to one that will soon impact every facet of our economy.

“A 3D model is pretty, but when you add data to it, that becomes a digital twin,” he said.

Cunningham added that a growing number of companies are using digital twins as a test bed for ideas they may later implement in the physical world. For example, Hyundai is building a digital twin of its innovation center and factory in Singapore. Meanwhile, Samsung is building a digital twin of its storefronts, so shoppers can buy things in the metaverse, which will later be sent to them in the mail.

The University’s Institute for Data Science and Computing launched its Digital Twins Lab this semester, a space that will allow students to work on these types of projects, merging immersive experiences with real-world data.

While the immersive tech industry continues to grow, Peck urged audience members to get involved in  helping to ensure privacy and transparency will be a part of the metaverse. She said it needs to be accessible, created with diverse minds, and socially responsible.

“The metaverse is not just technology, it’s a story of humanity because it’s here to augment the human experience,” she said. “My challenge to you is to paint a perfect picture of that future—if you have a fantasy, it doesn’t have to be based in reality. The possibilities are infinite.”

Learn more about VRARA. Members say one of the best ways to get involved is to join a vertical/committee, and Grinfeder urged those interested to join the VRARA slack channel.

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