Agenda

Description

Ori Inbar, CEO and cofounder of AWE, will welcome attendees to the 14th annual AWE USA 2023 event with the theme: XR is Everywhere!

He will kick off with his annual update about the state of the XR industry and where it's headed, and will follow up with "Metaverse Unplugged" - a super-fan conversation with Neal Stephenson - the legendary author who coined the term Metaverse.

Speakers

Ori Inbar

Co-Founder , AWE and Super Ventures

Neal Stephenson

Co-Founder , Lamina1

Description

Qualcomm Technologies Inc., is excited to be at the forefront of accelerating the XR industry. Our efforts to build an open XR ecosystem have helped drive innovation that make the XR industry successful for all. At AWE 2023, Hugo Swart, VP & GM of XR at Qualcomm will reveal the latest developments with our Snapdragon XR platforms and Snapdragon Spaces developer SDK and how they are shaping the next generation of AR, VR, and MR experiences.

Speakers

Stephan Hamberger

VP/Head of Digital Products North America , Red Bull Media House

Hugo Swart

VP & GM, XR , Qualcomm

Kalpana Berman

Chief Product Officer , Kittch

Yi Xu

Director of XR Technology , OPPO

Description

The journey with XREAL Light, XREAL Air and Beyond

Speakers

Chi Xu

CEO , XREAL

Description

A fireside chat with Rony Abovitz, CEO of Sun and Thunder (founder of Magic Leap and MAKO Surgical), and his podcast co-host, Forbes tech columnist Charlie Fink. Rony will discuss why he thinks we're in a difficult but necessary middle "Gemini" phase (Mercury-Gemini-Apollo) before a deeper convergence of multiple technologies enables a full flowering of the XR seeds we have been planting for the past ten years, and the five decades before that.

Speakers

Charlie Fink

Consultant, Columnist, Author, Adjunct , Forbes

Rony Abovitz

Founder & CEO , Sun and Thunder

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

Witness the dawn of a new age of Augmented Reality as Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. addresses some very real pain points to mainstream XR adoption today. See how the latest phase of Snapdragon™ Spaces XR Developer platform aims to onboard and activate an untapped market of mobile developers as well as enabling XR developers with the ease of familiar traditional input models. This talk lays the groundwork for the rest of the Snapdragon Spaces activations throughout the show, you won’t want to miss it.

Speakers

Steve Lukas

Director of Product Management , Qualcomm

Description

Dispelix develops and delivers elegant and high-performance see-through waveguides that are used as transparent displays in extended reality (XR) devices. We are the trusted and visionary partner of the most demanding customers in XR, and enable the industry leaders to redefine the form, function, and feel of XR wearables. Join our Co-founder & CEO, Antti Sunnari, as he discusses how together with Dispelix you can realize your product visions from waveguide design to mass production.

Speakers

Antti Sunnari

CEO , Dispelix

Description

In this panel discussion, we will talk to three XR champions and leaders who have led successful large-scale deployments at Wal-Mart, Axon, and the Veteran’s Health Administration. While we often are caught up in what the future of XR may be, many need to realize the power that XR is bringing to major organizations today.

You will hear how they are using XR, the results of using VR in their organization, the challenges they faced, and how they scaled their programs. The future is bright for XR, but it is already radically changing how we learn, work, and heal.

Speakers

Caitlin Rawlins

Deputy Director, Clinical Tech Innovation , Veterans Affairs

Jarrad Nagel

Senior Manager - Global Learning Innovations , Walmart

David Burch

Sales Director , ArborXR

Robert Murphy

Sr. Director, Virtual Reality , Axon

Description

Holo-Light provides XR streaming technology and a platform for enterprises to scale XR use cases. Susanne Haspinger, co-founder and COO will be joined by Michael Hinckley, Senior Manager Manufacturing Technology at Northrop Grumman to discuss the challenges, requirements and a solution approach for enterprises looking to centralize and scale their XR initiatives. In this session, you'll learn what the industrial metaverse looks like, combining XR use cases, simplicity, data security and performance.

Speakers

Susanne Haspinger

Co-founder and COO , Holo-Light

Michael Hinckley

Senior Systems Engineering Mgr (AMT) , Northrop Grumman

Description

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already having a significant influence on the Metaverse and the intersection of AI and the Metaverse will become increasingly evident as AI evolves and the Metaverse grows.

AI can be used to create more realistic and engaging experiences in virtual worlds, intelligent avatars that can engage with users in a more natural way, and personalized content in real-time. All of this can improve the overall experience for users. Furthermore, AI can be used to create more efficient and scalable infrastructure for the Metaverse, enabling more users to participate and interact with each other.

However, there will be challenges as well, such as biases in algorithms that perpetuate harmful stereotypes, false or manipulated content leading to misinformation, and questions about privacy and security.

This expert panel will discuss the issues and how AI might potentially transform how we interact with others in immersive spaces.

Speakers

Alvin Wang Graylin

Author, Our Next Reality | Global VP, HTC , HTC

Amy LaMeyer

Managing Partner , WXR Fund

Tony Parisi

CPO , Lamina1

Kent Bye

Producer , Voices of VR Podcast

Description

Industry veteran Avi Bar-Zeev covers the latest trends in XR, AI and The Metaverse to dissect the hype, uncover the hero use cases, and help us avoid repeating past mistakes. As the fabricators of the future let’s take ownership of the way we use AI, Web3, Metaverse and XR to make a positive impact on the world.

Speakers

Avi Bar-Zeev

Founder, President , XR Guild

Description

Are you sitting on the sidelines trying to understand what the next decade of fashion and beauty will bring? Get a front-row seat to one of the hottest discussions to hit the AWE runway. Hear from today's most relevant brands and from luxury, fashion, beauty, and culture leaders on why fashion and beauty are leading the way when it comes to Metaverse and Emerging Tech adoption. The panel will explore:

• How brands are using virtual spokespeople to connect with new audiences
• What Generative AI has to do with the metaverse and its impact on fashion and beauty
• How gaming is becoming Gen Alpha’s new social network
• How brands are preparing for a future with AR glasses
• Innovative real-world examples that illustrate why fashion, beauty and luxury are leading the way

Speakers

Cathy Hackl

CEO , Spatial Dynamics

Agustina Sartori

Sr Director Digital Innovation , Ulta Beauty

Maya Kosovalic

VP Digital Innovation & E-Comm. NYX Professional Makeup , L'Oreal

Akbar Hamid

Founder & CEO , 5th Column

Description

Skateboarding translated to gameplay so well in the early-2000’s that Activison was often called, “The house that Tony built” due to the success of its Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise. While it was partly the endless trick-combos, THPS became a cultural phenomenon because it also tapped the creative freedom and ethos of this community. Yet for all its success, it only scratched the surface of the most intrinsic part of all—the ability to skate the world, itself. Augmented Reality changes that.

Skatrix is a new skate game leveraging AR to liberate players from predefined worlds to skate the actual world around us—at any scale. Come engage with skate legend, Rodney Mullen, renown AI Researcher, Bill Higgins and Skatrix’ visionary developer, Kasimir Lehto; you’ll get a taste of not only the mindset and tech behind all this, but a look into the unfolding possibilities, from integrating Ai to make the world shimmer with new ideas to using Skatrix as a creative tool in your own skating, and even to learn from pros, too.

Speakers

Bill Higgins

Chair, IBM Open Innovation Community , IBM

Rodney Mullen

Skateboarder , Legendary Skater

Kasimir Lehto

Founder, Game Developer , Reality Crisis

Description

Get ready to buckle up and dive into the world of XR with Tim Ventura and Shelley Peterson, who each have over 20 years of experience in the XR and visualization industry.

Tim's experience involves providing XR solutions that change the way a company does business.

Shelley's experience involves pulling XR solutions into the enterprise space to provide incredibly impactful value.

What happens when you mix the two? It's anyone's guess, but the result is likely to return value.

Speakers

Shelley Peterson

Founder | XR Industry Pioneer , Wizard Wells

Tim Ventura

Enterprise Account Executive , Holo-Light