Virtual/Augmented Reality

VR, AR Conference Organizers Wrap Up Inaugural Event

• By Sri Ravipati
• 11/04/16

A conference for creators of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) products and services had its first standalone event this week in San Francisco, CA. More than 750 designers, programmers, business professionals, producers, artists and audio experts from nearly 30 countries attended the inaugural Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC). The event combined expertise from game, entertainment and technology fields to “learn to build immersive experiences of all kinds,” according to the VRDC site.

VRDC featured sessions on government, healthcare, entertainment and retails with speakers from NASA, the White House, Google and IBM. Sessions covered the latest trends and topics in the VR/AR industry, helping participants “to learn best practices, gain an understanding of the market and monetization trends, create new business partnerships and exchange ideas with innovators shaping the industry.”

Other event highlights include:

• Industry players like Google VR, Microsoft HoloLens, FOVE, Intel, Morph3D, HTC VIVE, Viveport and other vendors displaying their newest tech; and
• The announcement that “representatives from major platform holders” are joining VRDC’s Advisory Board.

An upcoming VRDC event will offer a gaming track in addition to VR/AR, and will take place Feb. 27-28, 2017 in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference. The next standalone VRDC event will take place in Fall 2017.