On the 4-6 of December Rotterdam, The Netherlands, hosted Europe’s biggest assembly of XR enthusiasts with two major events: Immersive Tech Week and XR Awards ceremony.
JetStyle was happy to be a part of the celebration: we submitted two of our works to the competition, and both of them got to the final:
- Killer Tennis, a non-violent family friendly sports game for LBE venues (case study, presentation video)
- VR Ride around Stockholm, an immersive fantastic trip around the capital of Sweden (case study, presentation video)
Alexey Kulakov, JetStyle’s CEO and co-founder, represented us at the events. We asked him to share his thoughts about the trip and give us his insights about the future of XR:
Immersive Tech Week
I’ve been to many conferences, and Immersive Tech Week is one of the best I visited so far. In my opinion, a great conference has the following features:
- It’s organized by professionals in their industry.
It’s so true for immersive Tech Week. The 3-day event was full of meaningful discussions about the future of XR. Kudos to @Benjamin de Wit for collecting all of the amazing enthusiasts in one place.
- It provides lots of opportunities for networking.
Again, ITW is 10/10 in this aspect. The whole space is organized in a way that makes networking so easy. I looked around during coffee breaks and saw people chatting about XR everywhere. It’s a truly inspiring environment for conversation.
- The program is packed with cool speakers and lectures.
There were times I wished I could divide in two and visit two lectures simultaneously – and I’m not even exaggerating!
- It’s located in an amazing place.
It was my first time in Rotterdam, and I loved the city so much. I’m looking forward to coming back there next year.
Key Messages from Immersive Tech Week
- VR → XR
This year’s biggest trend in the industry is the switch from VR to XR. Indeed, the extended reality is a much more encompassing concept. XR is bigger than VR, and even the name of Europe's most renowned award reflects that. At JetStyle we’ve been supporting this idea for a while now, and we’re happy the industry is on the same page with us.
- AI for XR
This area has a huge potential for future development. I loved the talks about the influence AI has on immersive experiences.
- XR for Higher education
There was a lot of discussion about how XR should be implemented in education, specifically in higher education. Guys from https://npuls.nl/xr/ showed their framework that assesses how ready universities are for XR in their processes.
The discussion highlighted an obvious issue: if we want XR to be a part of the education system, we have to reorganize the processes in the system and add interaction with XR as a specific separate competence. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough practical case studies today: most of them are of research nature.
- On mass adoption of XR
Developers know how to create XR experiences, but these experiences are not changing people’s everyday activity for the better. If we want XR to be mass adopted, we have to make sure it changes people’s lives on a daily basis.
This concept was one of our core motivations for creating Salsa XR: an XR app for learning the basic steps of salsa. It’s free on Meta Store, come check it out: we’d love to hear your thoughts. The idea is really simple: salsa is a social dance, but before you hit the dance floor with a partner, it makes sense to practice the basic steps with a virtual teacher. You don’t need anything else except for a headset and a little free space in your home. The app has a zero learning curve: from the first seconds in XR you interact with the virtual assistant that guides you through the app.
At JetStyle, we believe apps like ours are going to change the way XR integrates into everyday life. Mass adoption will happen if new XR experiences augment people’s reality and provide them with an experience they’ve never had.
- On hardware for mass adoption
I chatted with a guy whose company invests into the development of XR games, and we agreed that we’re very inspired by Orion, the new AR glasses. They are the closest to mass-adoption XR hardware we’ve seen so far. Of course, we said it before about Google Glass, Magic Leap, and other concepts of XR headsets – but it seems that Meta has developed something we’ve been looking forward to.
Projects I’d like to mention:
Of course, I couldn’t miss the chance to try out new experiences. I tested a rig by Exit Suit – it was an amazing experience of flying in VR; I wish the guys all the luck with the future development of the product.
BTW we have developed a similar experience at JetStyle: VR diver, a training system for learning how to swim.
These guys from SenseGlove are creating a product that tries to solve the problem of haptic feedback. It’s not an easy issue, and I enjoyed testing the gloves. They are aimed at helping people with various motor functions disorders.
XR Awards
The 5th of December was the day X for all finalists at XR Awards. The best minds of the industry gathered on a magnificent cruise ship to celebrate excellence in XR. I loved witnessing the visual transformation: geeky XR enthusiasts and visioners put on suits, tuxedos and floor-length gowns. It was both funny and mesmerizing.
Thank you Andrea Balistreri, Francesco Loli, and Matina Arkoumani for being with us the whole time we prepared for the event, and for organizing this beautiful ceremony. It was definitely a top highlight of the year!
This year JetStyle didn’t win any prizes, but still we were not disappointed: 2/2 of our submitted projects were named finalists, and it’s a great win itself! It shows we’re creating experiences on a solid industry level.
During the ceremony I paid attention to the works that won accolades, and took out several insights about what we as developers should focus on:
- Extended reality needs to reveal unusual properties on the verge between the virtual and the actual realities. Simple straightforward implementation of XR’s features is not impressive anymore.
- An effective XR experience involves the users into the process and motivates them to witness their impact. XR has an immense artistic potential, and I’m not sure yet how it translates into businesses’ profit. We should really be looking into how XR opens up new properties between the two realities. It’s a key takeaway for my team at JetStyle.
- XR games of this year’s awards season are really incredible; I’m impressed by the quality of the graphics. I’m planning to play Underdogs by One Hamsa – it’s one of my favorite genres, and I think I’m going to love it.
- The winner of our category – XR Location Based Entertainment of the Year – is the perfect project in terms of how XR augments reality. Congratulations to Glitch Studios for the amazing work.
Conclusion
For Alexey, these 3 days in Rotterdam were full of excitement, networking, and pride for being a part of the XR industry. Thank you AIXR and Immersive Tech Week for creating a space for us to meet and exchange ideas.
At JetStyle we recommend everyone to visit industry events, because it’s a great opportunity to:
- Learn about the current level of work in the industry,
- Talk with like-minded people,
- Hear about the trends and pains the industry needs to solve,
- Check how your work fits into the industry,
- Find inspiration for the future awards season.
We’re looking forward to meeting everybody next year. Now we’re off to celebrate our results, brainstorm ideas for future projects, and celebrate the New Year. Happy holidays!
