We are extremely excited to announce a wide range of panels with stellar lineups to the VRWC agenda. Starting with the BAFTA VR Panel, which has speakers from BBC Worldwide, Aardman, AMD, Rewind and The Foundry, the list is impressive.
Among the panel list are sponsors Unity who will be holding a panel discussion on the challenges facing the VR world, the fantastic VR Writers Room which has been going from strength to strength, where they will be discussing what they have learned from talking in their virtual forum.
For the full panel line-up, click here.
Our newest additions to the speakers list cover healthcare training, thanks to Dual Good founder Anna Stoilova, WebVR with Martin Prins of industry innovators TNO and Simon Barrat of Cooperative Innovations will be discussing Social VR. Carl Hibbert from Futuresource Consulting will also be doing a VR & AR Market review.
We are also very happy to announce that VR flight combat specialists BELOUDEST will be exhibiting their game BAD DAY TO FLY, NSC Creative will be taking a stand showcasing 3 new projects and Constructive Labs will be demonstrating what they do best with their programming platform.
With just over 2 weeks to go, the excitement is palpable, we look forward to seeing you there!
Once again our latest lineup of announcements only furthers VRWC’s commitment to providing a varied and unique event designed to cater for VR across its massive spectrum of related industries.
View the full list of speakers, sponsor and exhibitors below:
Panels:
BAFTA VR - Is VR a legitimate new type of entertainment?
This panel of BAFTA VR Advisory Group Executives and leaders in the VR industry will discuss whether VR is just an add-on to the TV, film and games industries; or a stand-alone medium, deserving of its own ecosystem, rules and regulations.
Clockwise, Host - Sol Rogers, REWIND; James Knight, AMD; Bradley Crooks, BBC Worldwide; Jon Wadelton, CTO of Foundry; Mark Burvill, Aardman
VR Writers Room
The panel will discuss the future of narrative design and creative storytelling for Immersive Entertainment formats, aimed to provide different viewpoints and outside expertise. Original VR Writers Room.
Clockwise, Tanya Laird, Digital Jam; Resh Sidhu, Framestore; Simon Barratt, Cooperative Innovations; Tom Nelson, Royal Opera House; Kevin Williams, KWP; Rob Yescombe, Freelance; Kim Majkut, Great Guns
VR for Change
An informal panel with VR creators, directors and charity professionals discussing the subject of how VR/360 can be used to drive change in perception or increase charitable giving amongst government or the general public.
Clockwise, Host - Erfaan Saardati, Surround Vision; Amy Pearson, Plan International; Alex Asen, UNCCD; Mary Matheson, Plan International UK; Jade Williams, Apache
VR Finance : Startup to Scaleup
The panel will be discussing what financing options available are available at the moment, and the trends that investors and the government are keen to explore.
Clockwise, Host - Jon Gill, TLT LLP; Anna Mansi, BFI; Philip Tellwright, Business West; Andrew Mulvenna, Accelerated Digital Ventures; Fiona Kilkelly, Knowledge Transfer Network
Reaching out: the importance of touch in VR
This panel will explore the part haptics must play in the future of truly immersive, interactive experiences. From tactile experiences to kinesthesis, the panel will explore the information that the sense of touch can give the user, what current technologies can simulate this information, and how they see haptics being brought to virtual worlds in the future.
L-R, Host -Rowland Manthorpe, WIRED; Dr Alastair Barrow, Generic Robotics; Thomas Gere, The Realities Centre; Tom Carter, Ultrahaptics
Challenges faced in VR: Past, present and future
We’re seeing many success stories emerge from companies starting or transitioning to the world of Virtual Reality. Many of these companies have had some hardships that they’ve overcome over the past few years and there’s always more challenges to come. Hear from 5 successful companies from across Europe and how they solved problems they faced and what issues the envisage in the future.
Clockwise, Host - Josh Naylor, Unity; Adam Robaszynski-Janiec, House of Fables; Michal Wróblewski, Setapp; Sam Watts, Make Real; Katie Goode, Triangular Pixels; Daniel Kihlgren Kallander, SVRVIVE
Speakers:
Anna Stoilova, Dual Good - Making health training a reality, by using virtual reality
Anna Stoilova is a co-founder of Dual Good Health, a startup that uses VR to make CPR training as accessible to the generic public as possible. Coming from a design background, Anna manages the design side of the business, as well as business development.
Anna will be talking about her experience creating a medical app for CPR training using a physical mannequin in combination with VR and all the challenges she faced - from doing a prototype in 24h to finding a user base for the product.
Simon Barratt, COOPERATIVE INNOVATIONS - Social VR and the next iteration of VR gaming
Simon started in the games industry as a low-level programmer in 1999. He ran indie studio Four Door Lemon from 2005 to 2015 producing a large range of games across many genres and platforms. In 2016 he setup Cooperative Innovations to develop social VR titles including recently announced ‘Raiders of Erda’. He’s also a board member of trade association Ukie and ambassador for charity SpecialEffect.
Simon will talk about how Cooperative Innovation’s online co-op RPG ‘Raiders of Erda’ came about and the technical and gameplay innovations behind it!
Martin Prins, TNO - WebVR meets WebRTC: Towards 360-degree social VR experiences
Martin will be speaking about how TNO uses web technologies such as WebVR and WebRTC to
create social and collaborative VR experiences, in which participants can actually see each other. The in-house developed TogetherVR framework, which builds on many web technologies allows us to connect people for audio-visual interactions, while being able to engage in interactive content, in a VR or mixed reality setting. In the talk, Martin will address some of the challenges and experimental outcomes of watching TV, playing a game or having a videoconference with other participants in VR.
Carl Hibbert, Futuresource Consulting - WW VR AR Market Review
Carl oversees Futuresource’s team responsible for research and analysis across all forms of entertainment and content distribution, in addition overseeing its regular consumer research programmes. Beyond his management responsibilities, Carl is Futuresource’s lead analyst for pay-TV and broadcast. Carl previously spent six years as lead analyst for Futuresource’s broadcast technology team, research programmes and consulting projects across the entire supply chain from head-end video compression through to in-home set top box technology.
Exhibitors:
Constructive Labs
Start programming in VR in under 4 minutes using the Constructive Labs platform. Make VR in VR using Visual Programming, collaboratively with friends and colleges. Publish your work for others to experience and enjoy.
Use our platform to make VR in VR using Visual Programming. Create collaboratively with friends and colleges. Publish your work for others to experience and enjoy.
BELOUDEST
BAD DAY TO FLY - The ultimate VR flight combat game harnesses the immersive nature of Virtual Reality through the piloting of an advanced quadcopter vehicle (using intuitive, drone-like controls) in intense aerial battles. It has been developed to support HTC Vive and Oculus Rift with plans for future console-compatibility.
Beloudest is a game design and development company based in south London, with an extended, scalable and multi-disciplinary team of up to 15. It focuses on harnessing the potential of Virtual Reality technology in creating immersive and story-based games.
NSC Creative
NSC Creative is an award-winning UK studio that specialises in VR, Dome, Theme Parks and Museums with over 16 years of experience. They have installed immersive experiences in over 800 venues across 60 countries. The studio has released premium cinematic VR content and has numerous room-scale VR projects in development.
NSC Creative will be showcasing 3 projects at VRWC; We Are Stars narrated by Andy Serkis, a 25 minute immersive 360°, 3D, HFR video experience for all HMD's. Currently in-dev Vestige, a ground-breaking room-scale VR project using volumetric capture, a journey through memories, a story of lost love. Currently in-dev ObserVRatarium, a room-scale interactive educational virtual museum experience for home and attractions.
Tickets for VR World Congress 2017 are available right now, with full three-day delegate tickets (which will grant you access to all of the speakers and exhibitors above) currently available for £300.
We hope you'll be joining us and our new speakers and exhibitors from April 11th - 13th for VR World Congress 2017!
