Immersive Tech Week 2022 reveals first speakers, conference tracks and partners

Immersive Tech Week is gearing up for its 8th edition and will be back IRL from November 28 to December 2 in de Doelen, Rotterdam. The team is excited to reveal the first line-up of speakers, featuring some of the brightest minds and global visionaries from the immersive technology field and beyond. For this?edition, the 5-day festival will feature 10+ tracks, showcasing a comprehensive programme on the XR universe and its impact on multiple industries and our society. The festival is also delighted to announce its first partnerships with leading companies including Meta, Pico and SenseGlove and institutes including XR4Europe, the European Commission and VR4REHAB.

10+ conference tracks on XR and beyond

Over the past 8 years the use of XR has grown immensely in many industries. Immersive Tech Week aims to unite the XR community into one place and build an attractive and exciting?programme for professionals from those industries that are impacted by the rapid developments in immersive technology now and in the near future.

Immersive Tech Week’s conference tracks address compelling and urgent subjects in the field of XR, metaverse and web3 and look at the impact of immersive technologies on our society.

The tracks are designed to inspire experts, professionals, decision-makers and enthusiasts from various fields and industries, providing the best opportunity to gain knowledge on how immersive technologies can upgrade and improve your?business.

The conference programme is created by Benjamin de Wit and?Monique van Dusseldorp from the Immersive Tech Week team, three guest curators recognized as thought-leaders and innovators within the XR field:?Timmy Ghiurau?(Volvo), godmother of VR?Nonny de la Pe?a?(Emblematic Group) and?Miriam Reiner?(Technion, Institute of Technology Israel) and a team of 20+ industry professionals.

First line-up of speakers and partners announced

More than 150 international experts are set to join Immersive Tech Week 2022 to share their vision on the latest innovations in the immersive technology industry and how they will shape the world of tomorrow. This reveal showcases the festival’s ambition to provide a place for professionals to learn, get inspired, and build bridges between industries:

• Diederik Gommers, Professor Intensive Care Medicine at Erasmus MC
• Markus Reinisch, VP Public Policy Europe, Middle East and Africa at Meta
• Iara Dias, Metaverse Producer at Decentraland
• Sophie Kleber, UX Lead for Future of Work at Google?
• Bianca Comparato, Actress and Director
• Mavi Sanchez Vives, ICREA Research Professor?
• Albert ‘Skip’ Rizzo, Research Director at USC
• Jay Latta, Emerging Technology Strategist and Founder of The Fusionists?
• Jaap Bonjer, Chair of the Department of Surgery at Amsterdam University Medical Centre?
• Mel Slater, Distinguished Investigator and VR Researcher at University of Barcelona
• Lucas Rizzotto, Metaverse Consultant and Co-Founder of AR House
• Melodie Mousset, Award Winning Artist and Co-Founder of PatchXR
• Michel van der Aa, Compositor of contemporary classical music
• Bas Boorsma, Chief Digital Officer of the City of Rotterdam
• Joost Raessens, Professor and Chair of Media Theory at Utrecht University

Immersive Tech Week’s trade show will feature front-running companies in the XR industry such as?Meta?and?Pico, research organisations such as?TNO, start-ups such as?Virbe?and European Horizon projects such as?IV4XR, all showcasing their revolutionary products and solutions. With many more to be announced in the coming weeks, other confirmed companies that will participate in the event are?SenseGlove, ICEX supporting a delegation of companies from Spain, ArborXR,?Connec2, CaptainVR, PNY, VR Training Academy, Vicon, Improvive, Ordina, to name a few.

Besides having the opportunity to meet companies at the trade show, listen to various speakers, attend workshops and round tables, visitors will be able to enjoy other programme features such as:?

• Church of VR, showcasing the best in XR storytelling.
• Citizen’s Think Tank, where the future of technology is contemplated by its users and reported back to big tech and policy makers.
• The Sprint, a human centred hackathon pushing the boundaries of what is doable in XR.
• Playground, where everyone can experience the latest in immersive technologies for free.
• Philosopher’s Salon, an open forum for discussion on the fundamental questions of XR. as well as a series of workshops and roundtables hosted by some of our partners.

Short description on tracks

• Smart City: How worldbuilding and the power of storytelling help us shape our virtual and physical future? Are we at the edge of conducting another life in a parallel world, real or imagined?
• Performing Arts & Music: How the oldest art forms in the world are taking the lead in artistic development in immersive technologies?
• Metaverse: The most popular word of the decade is raising profound questions and debates among the XR community. Do we truly know what the metaverse is?
• Creative Industries: How Creative Industries shape our identity and lead us into the future?
• Sustainability: Climate change is the most urgent matter today. How can immersive technologies help us build a greener and cleaner future?
• Diversity: The key to a functional and healthy universe is diversity and inclusion. How can XR technologies help to make our society more diverse and inclusive??
• Port & Maritime: How the worlds smartest port leads the way using immersive technologies?
• Media & Branding: The metaverse has shaken up marketing strategies. Why and how should brands and artists be visible in the virtual world?
• Industry: Big dreams, big business, how XR innovation is the heart of industry. What XR technologies are the most valuable for industry?
• Education & Talent: The way we educate our children today is not the same as ours. How XR technologies are shaking up the way we teach, learn and reach talent?
• Gaming & Esports: What is the future of XR gaming? What will be the next major technology in the industry? How do you stay in shape while gaming?
• Neuro?& Life Sciences: The field of Social XR is more and more explored. What can immersive technologies bring to brain and behaviour related research? How the mind controls the virtual space and in return makes or brain grow?
• Healthcare & Wellbeing: The use of XR in healthcare is rising and seems to have a bright future. How do health professionals integrate immersive technologies in their research, diagnosis and treatments?
• Future of Media: New business models emerged with immersive worlds. How XR and metaverse technologies are disrupting the way we create, distribute and monitize media??
• Future of Work: The workplace has known the biggest mutation recently. Can we still imagine our work life without XR technologies?

About VRDays Europe:?The VRDays Europe foundation strives to unite the XR community, inspire creative minds & drive business forward to make a positive difference for tomorrow. VRDays brings artists, professionals, decision/makers, academics and creators together with different sectors, industries and investors to boost the development and application of?XR technology. Started in 2015 as VRDays, the event was renamed to Immersive Tech Week in 2021 due to the rapid developments in the industry and growth of the audience. The foundation has an international focus and wants to harness the potential of the European immersive technology?industry at a global level. In 2022, with the support of de Doelen and Gemeente Rotterdam,, Immersive Tech Week moved from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, one of the world's most innovative cities.?

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