Last week on October 20th & 21st was the 2022 edition of AWE – Augmented World Expo – Europe, an event the XR community had been longing for since 2019!

It’s to date a human size conference that assembles the XR developer community that has been growing with the accelerated digitaisation due to Covid19 and the “Meta” announcements of 2021. The conference now includes not only XR but also Web3 and NFT developers so we could say a convergence journey is starting.

What has not changed at AWE since 2019:

It is an event where you’ll be sure to meet existing friends and acquaintances in the XR industry, one of the few we all try to attend.
It is a reunion of the industry ecosystem so it’s a great place to find new partners and XR tooling solution providers.
Because of the expert attendance, the show area has great content!
Here are the top 3 changes we have notices since 2019
Accessibility has made many in the developer community snap out of the 100% VR focus to offer access in a wider variety of devices. VR is no longer the core proposition! We did the same so the rational for that was to be able and fulfill customer demand during Covid when the VR user base was basically inexistant. So we all had to adapt and make sure desktop, tablet or mobile was part of the offering.
There is a more diversified portfolio of use cases on the exhibition floor with a lots more marketing, sport, healthcare, learning applications not just enterprise & industrial offerings. There is also a more gender diversified audience with 93 female speakers this year! Bravo AWE!
The new trend of interest seems to be regenerative AI. The developer community is wondering how this could fuel the Metaverse creative workflow & production.
If you’d like to see some of the content presented at AWE, below are a few links to check out!
From the age of cyberpunk to the rise of superhumans
Access the 20 mn keynote here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW8IBbbtM-c&list=PLLri17oDqCEWeBbzk6Rdfj5kVSldcvOLM&index=7
With the acceleration and convergence of emerging technologies: Metaverse, blockchain, AI, super computers , 5G infrastructure all coming together in an ever faster pace, we are about to experience the age of the superhumans, where technology expands human abilities beyond what we can even imagine today.

A keynote by Immersionn Founder Alexandra Hussenot

DVRSTY: Accelerating Founders for a More Diverse World
Access the 45 mn panel session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUGafBqoO1Y&list=PLLri17oDqCEUwsoygLVJ9FVkZiKqvJQpl&index=3

The next generation of the Internet should be built by a more diverse set of founders than the last. DVRSTY exists to help accelerate those founders in creating ambitious new companies within the Metaverse and Web3. We do this primarily by connecting them with capital, network and talent.

Moderated by Dave from FOV Venture and hosting Women in Immersive Technology members Muki Kulhan, Asha Easton and Alexandra Hussenot.

How the Metaverse Could Save Us from a Sustainability Disaster
Access the 45 mn panel session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsoD_q-LuHA&list=PLLri17oDqCEWLUKSg8b3DhGYJzyJj7ra8&index=4

This was our favorite talk which we recommend to watch. It is important we keep looking at balancing our ambition of advancing technology with considerations about the environmental impact.

“Just today, data centres contribution is 3,7% of the global greenhouse gas emission, almost twice as much as the aviation industry…The average single gamer pumps 2000 pounds of CO2 into the atmospher every year…that is the equivalent of driving 2250 miles which is like to drive frolm here to Ghana…and that’s without a headset” says Amelia Kallman.

A session moderated by Antony Vitillo with Amerlia Kallman and Villma Matilla

Catching up post event on some peer presentations

Hyped-up on Fan Hyper-Personalisation in XR Sport

Access the 25 mn keynote session here: https://awe.live/session/169200

A keynote by Muki Kullan:

Give me an A! Give me a W! Give me an E! Grab an icy cold one and take a seat in our VIP Box seats where your ticket includes exclusive access to recent industry home runs revealing how a fan’s experience is evolving for new XR-powered sports, via hyper-personalised, frictionless, data-driven engagement across activations, platforms and worlds, and what’s next for these expanding XR franchises.

@Muki of course we “want a nerd-out moment!”

The Top 5 Things You Need to Know about Enterprise VR Training
Access the 25 mn keynote session here: https://awe.live/session/169181

This talk will help you to understand the key benefits of using VR for training, and the main factors you need to be aware of when considering implementing VR training.r training, and the main factors you need to be aware of when considering implementing VR training.

Special thanks

To AWE Sonyia Haskins & Ori Inbar from AWE for putting together such a well diversified conference!