2018: What a Year!
VR First Season 1, Episode 1: The VR First Consortium
2018 is coming to an end. To learn, improve and grow further, we are taking a step back to reflect on what has happened, the bad and the good moments, the fun stuff, the criticism and the lessons learned.
Top 5 Moments to celebrate have been the consortium announcement, the launch of a new innovation platform, the organization of the Auggie Breakthrough Awards, many hackathons, and other success stories from the VR First Labs. We are proud to share the most exciting achievements with you. Here is the recap of 2018!
We couldn’t have accomplished our mission of Democratizing VR/AR Innovation without the VR First Consortium members: Intel, HTC VIVE, VRMARK, MixCast, SpringboardVR, pmdtechnologies ag and LeapMotion!
With their support, the world’s first VR Academic Purpose equipment offering has been launched, consisting of hardware and software at discounted rates, including lab establishment consultancy drawing on the experience of 52 VR/AR labs and centers of excellence established at the most impactful destinations worldwide.
VR First Lab’s Projects
52 labs from Vietnam to Bangladesh, from Kosovo to South Africa, Canada, USA and Europe have been supported with VR First’s consortium partner equipment. All of them have been working hard to show that they are deserving their VR First lab titles!
The VR First Lab at University of Hamburg is developing a digital games joint project “EXGAVINE: Motion Play in Virtual Reality as a Therapy for Neurological Diseases”. Another project: “VITALabs: Living Labs for Laboratory and Field Studies to Evaluate Virtual Technologies for a Healthy Life“. Both projects are coordinated by Prof. Dr. Frank Steinicke, funded by The Federal Ministry of Education and Research with nearly 4 million Euros!
Did you know you can learn to create “VR for Social Good” projects in this course offered by the VR First Lab at University of Florida, one of the VR First lab networks? Special thanks goes out to Benjamin Lok, Computer Science professor at UF, and his team to initiate this course and make all the materials (syllabus, presentations, assignments…) available public. Feel free to reach us if you are interested to bring this course to your region! Materials are accessible through this link.
Thomas Johann Seebeck, from the VR First Lab at Tallinn University of Technology organized the Tallinn Winter School SMART SYSTEMS OF TOMORROW, with the goal of deepening the integration between ICT, electronics and mechatronics and raising the interdisciplinarity of respective fields into new level through practical activity.
Researchers at the VR First Lab at University College Cork found a way to use VR to help make men aware of testicular cancer. The participants of their study agreed that the technology is comfortable to use, testicular disorders are well represented, the use of light humor is appropriate, and the scientific facts are easy to understand. As a result of the study, in collaboration with the VR First Lab at UCC, the format of the VR game was developed.
The VR First Lab at NC State University got the opportunity to present their projects in VR applied to organic chemistry and share their success stories at the East Coast Game Conference, the largest event for game industry professionals on the US eastern seaboard.
Some labs just know how to look good! Thanks to Khalifa Chaa, who summarized the work done at the VR First Lab in Warsaw, designing dream houses, educating their students and much more. Don’t miss to watch this exceptional production:
First global community leader meetup in VR:
Lastly, VR/AR community leaders, the Enablers of Tomorrow, have discussed the obstacles and opportunities of the industry, in the first ever VR meetup of community leaders, hosted by The VR Girl. You are invited to sign up at www.enablersoftomorrow.com if you want to join the next one!
What was your top VR/AR moment of 2018? Let us know! We would love to connect and make the industry grow together.
— — —
