SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — On August 15th and 16th, 2020, the Augmented World Expo (AWE) hosted its 6th annual Asia-Pacific Conference in Shenzhen with 46 speakers, about 700 in person participants, 20 exhibitors, and over 60,000 live stream viewers. One of the only XR trade shows to happen offline since the pandemic, AWE Asia had 35 of its 46 speakers present in person.
The event offered a glimpse of what pandemic-era conferences might look like, with most participants wearing masks and exhibitors working to sanitize demos after each use. The conference covered key themes including the uneven effects of the pandemic on XR, which drove more consumer interest in XR but created supply chain problems. Many talks explored how increased remote working has accelerated the enterprise adoption of XR in architecture, planning, HR training, logistics, and maintenance. Hardware company Shadow Creator’s CEO Victor Sun noted that “The MR products developed by Shadow Creator have entered hundreds of schools in China since the start of COVID-19, and MR holographic classrooms and innovative laboratories have spread all over the country.” Chongqing Mengshen Technology announced the product launch of the Stream of Consciousness XR Armor.
AWE Asia hosts the annual Auggie Awards, where the best players in the XR industry are commended for their contributions to the field:
- JIMO Glasses by Shadow Creator won Best Hardware, with hardware honorable mentions to GLOW Plus Glasses by MAD Gaze, and Stream of Consciousness VR system by Chongqing Mengshen Technology.
- Vuforia by PTC won Best Software, with software honorable mentions to Immersal SDK by Immersal and Eye Tracking Solution by 7invensun.
- The Stream Of Consciousness VR System by Chongqing Mengshen Technology won Best Innovation, with honorable mentions going to MAD Gaze Watch and AR Interaction Bracelet by Pacific Future Technology.
Notable speakers and quotes at AWE ASIA included:
- Victor Sun, CEO of Shadow Creator, who discussed the difficulty and promise of transitioning to user-computer interaction with voice, handle devices, and gestures. He also announced an official collaboration between Shadow Creator and Qualcomm to launch a consumer-grade MR glasses product called “Honghu” with an estimated production capacity of 100,000 by 2021.
- Yezhi Sun of MAD Gaze outlined novel applications of the new MAD Gaze Plus Glasses, including navigation, security, radiology, retail, engineering, and personal entertainment; he also demonstrated the hand-movement based operation of the new MAD Gaze Watch.
- Alvin Wang Graylin, China President of HTC, discussed pandemic-era acceleration towards XR technology and presented an HTC survey with 65% of respondents reporting using XR more and 90% saying XR tech helps them focus more at work.
- Gabriel Guo, QUALCOMM China XR Business Manager, who predicted the existence of nearly 30 billion 5G connections that will lay the foundation for the XR world by 2025.
- Other notable speakers included Charlie Fink, Author of “Remote Collaboration, Virtual Conferences and the Future of Work,” Ori Inbar, co-founder of AWE Asia and Super Ventures, and Gavin Newton-Tanzer, President of Sunrise International, the event producer of AWE ASIA.
About: AWE was founded in 2010 to spread awareness of the potential that XR technology has to offer the world. AWE Asia was locally organized by Sunrise International, cross-border consultancy.
Media Contact:
AWE Asia Augmented World Expo 917-725-3550