Immersed 2017
Immersed 2017 Meals & Breaks
-
Registration / Badge Pick-up / Breakfast
Immersed 2018 Networking Periods
-
Registration and Breakfast
Immersed 2018 Keynote Sessions
-
Richard Huddy, Head of Gaming Ecosystem
Samsung Research Institute
The Ecosystem Benefits of Bringing Fortnite to Android
Fortnite is arguably one of the most successful free to play multiplayer games that runs on multiple platforms and devices. Bringing Fortnite to Android was no small task as it's not only a creative game of play, it also has a high bar for performance and image quality. Huddy will talk about some of the Samsung and industry backed ecosystem developments that makes Fortnite possible and how these developments are benefiting mobile game and content creators on a wide scale.
Immersed 2017 Keynote Addresses
-
VR at the Point of Care
David Parker, IoT Consultant
David will be presenting the findings of a recently finished virtual reality feasibility pilot at Mount Sinai Hospital where palliative patients were able to experience their last wish via virtual reality. Also covered is how this unique idea came about, the struggles of getting it into a strict and heavily process driven industry like health care, and also some of the key learnings from infection control to patient best practices.
Finally, David will discuss the ethical concerns of sustaining this service at all ends of the ecosystem, and some ideas on how the market can overcome them.
Immersed 2018: Healthcare Track
-
Healthcare Track
David Parker, CEO
Wishplay
The Results of Making Immersive Wishes Come True
Wishplay is a non-profit that grants virtual wishes and is bringing together the healthcare industry and the VR community to create a much needed compassion network. Mr. Parker will share multiple patient use cases that drove the inspiration and evolution of the Wishplay Portal and what this could ultimately mean for the healthcare and patient care industries. Samples of these stories include a stroke patient overcoming a bout of severe depression and a former ski instructor with Parkinson’s being able ski again after 20 years.
Immersed 2018: Healthcare Track
-
Healthcare Track
Ted Judge, VP of Marketing
Polar Screens
Healthcare's Window on the World
Medical imaging has made significant advances since the time of x-rays. We now have systems that gather enormous amounts of data and create sophisticated 3D models. However, in most cases we continue to utilize 2D display technologies. This shortfall limits the information available to doctors to make decisions. VR and AR headsets are a significant step towards overcoming this limitation but introduce their own constraints. Less common are "Window on World" displays that easily fit into existing workflows and environments yet still enable 3D models to be viewed as lifelike virtual objects. This talk looks at the benefits of true 3D visualization of medical imaging for surgical planning and compares the leading display technologies.
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
Tom’s Hardware Panel
Kevin Carbotte, Tom’s Hardware
Frank Soqui, Intel
Neil Trevett, Nvidia
Kevin Chang, Google’s Daydream Labs
Frank Vitz, AMD Radeon Technology Group
Immersed 2018: Healthcare Track
-
Healthcare Track
Ricardo Wagner, Microsoft Canada
Making Future Computing Accessible by ALL
Mr. Wagner will talk about Microsoft Canada’s Diversity & Inclusion initiatives for people with disabilities. Covering both internal and external efforts, he will address both the hardware and software components needed to enable everyone in computing and future computing lifestyles and day to day activities. Some of the Microsoft products featured in Mr. Wagners’ work include the Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft Office, XBOX, and more.
Immersed 2018: Healthcare Track
-
Healthcare Track
Pascal Langlois, CEO
Collective Intent
Rebuilding Communication with Proxy Digital Avatars
Digital Humans that interact with cutomers using human expressions, reactions and gestures, are soon to hit screens across the world. The gestural and facial behaviors that give life to these digital creations must come from a Library of categorised human nonverbal behaviors. Proceedural and Markup animation processess, similar to those found in video game animation, could provide a proxy presence for people who have lost the power of speech, gesture and facial expression, as seen with ALS or Locked-in Syndrome. This talk looks at the potential offered by behavior libraries, and some of the the challenges that the creation of such a proxy avatar will have to overcome.
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
Lessons Learned in Location Based Entertainment
Bernie Roehl, CEO, Virtual Escapes
Simon Chu, CEO, Escape VR
Derick Downey, Professor, Illinois State University
Aurelian Rus, Ambassador, VRPlayin
Immersed 2018: Economic Development Track
-
Economic Development Track
Andrew Schmied, CEO
APS Consulting
Turning Innovation Into Viability
XR technology is a bastion of constant innovation working to perfect the immersive experiences we will all be taking for granted in the not too distant future. A critical part of making these technologies a reality is effectively turning research & development concepts into viable business realities that will be part of our everyday lives. Andrew will share a real case study of a true industry-changing technology that is being developed today, and how they are getting it from point A to B to C.
Immersed 2018: Economic Development Track
-
Economic Development Track
Karim Aly, Growth Officer
Gililei
Innovation, the true multiplier of economic development
On the face of it, tech innovation in Canada is booming; startup ecosystems are thriving and Canada is a global research leader of deep tech such as artificial intelligence. But what do the economic indicators say? Is Canada really fulfilling its innovation potential? This talk will explore how industry and government can drive long-term economic impact by applying innovation across all dimensions.
Immersed 2017 Meals & Breaks
-
NETWORKING LUNCH / EXHIBITS
Immersed 2018 Networking Periods
-
Networking Lunch
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
How Broadcast Television is Exemplifying Mixed Reality’s Future
Éric Minoli, Vice-President and CTO
Groupe Média TFO (Toronto)
Studio-based television production largely depends upon fixed sets. These are expensive to build, take place to store and are slow to erect. Virtual sets have long been proposed as the viable alternative, giving the benefit of effectively instantaneous implementation, boosting productivity in the studio. But traditional broadcast virtual studio systems have proved expensive and require long and detailed design stages, eliminating the cost benefit.
Groupe Média TFO, a not-for-profit broadcaster and content creator, has developed a fresh approach to virtual studios: the LUV – Laboratoire d’univers virtuels. It uses the power of the Unreal gaming engine to create an infinite variety of virtual worlds at the click of a mouse. For the first time, this unique space produces huge amounts of kids’ content daily. No need for post-production, everything happens in real-time. It gives a completely free rein to its talented team of creative writers, using sophisticated effects (fire, water, fog), yet remaining within a tight, public service budget.
Immersed 2018: Business and Business Development Track
-
Business and Business Development Track
Artificial Intelligence for Business Leaders
Briana Brownell, CEO
Pure Strategy
Despite many potential benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning, businesses are struggling to implement this technology within their organizations. Employees suffer from information overload, the right information doesn’t get to people who need it, and decisions are misaligned to corporate objectives. Meanwhile, companies who successfully implement AI tools quickly respond to market changes, minimize risks, and grow their customer base.
This talk will provide an overview of the top technological and organizational best practices to help you implement AI immediately. Drawing from case studies, we will outline actionable steps so your organization can hit a home run with AI, even if it’s your first project.
Immersed 2018: Business and Business Development Track
-
Business and Business Development Track
Completing the Vision With the Pursuit of Speed
David Gull, CEO, Outer Realm
Humanity continues to push the limits of what’s possible with construction and frontier technology that was science fiction just a few decades ago. Amazing architectures, space stations and space flight, self-driving cars, hyper speed ground transport and more are all within the realm of reality. The challenge that entrepreneurs and visionaries are faced with is the difficulty in effectively showcasing the vision to customers, investors, and potential stakeholders.
In this session, David Gull, CEO of Outer Realm, will address how VR and AR are helping people bridge this gap from imagination to reality through the lens of a real world case study, “The Pursuit of Speed”.
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
Latest Developments in Immersive Cinema and Broadcasting
James Stewart, CEO, Geneva Film Company
Jeff Miller, Sales Director, Humaneyes (Vuze Camera)
Nick Brown, Stereographer, Stereo D Toronto
Samuel McLean,Marketing & Sales, Suometry
Immersed 2018: Business and Business Development Track
-
Business and Business Development Track
Ofer Shai, Director
Deloitte Canada
Over the past decade, Artificial Intelligence has made some huge headlines, both good and bad. Opinions vary from the very positive of how AI will help eliminate disease, poverty, and hunger, to the extreme negative of machines rising against humanity. In this talk, I’ll help clarify some misconceptions, discuss the hype vs the reality, and talk about how companies are leveraging AI to improve our lives. I will present real use cases and successes, and the future of AI in the business world.
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
Creating Physical Immersive Environments demands Immersive Technologies
Nathan Weir, FORREC
Theme parks and entertainment spaces have always been rigorous in their design by using the latest design tools. With the advent of Immersive technologies, theme park designers now have additional powerful ways to both present and design their projects. Nathan Weir, the resident technology expert at FORREC, will discuss how Immersive tech has grown in the entertainment industry and how it is currently being used to improve their designs within the company’s workflow.
Immersed 2018: Business and Business Development Track
-
Business and Business Development Track
Ed Callway, Principal Member of Technical Staff
Advanced Micro Devices
Reshaping Our Future Through Graphics
When people think of graphics cards and graphics chips, they usually think of video games. However, the graphics industry is undergoing a paradigm shift and a self realization of what these technologies are truly capable of in business, entertainment, and consumer use. Mr. Callway will talk about the latest innovations and use cases found with graphics technologies and why they are important. Topics covered include real-time rendering in film, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and yes - visually stunning video games. A constant theme is the need for parallel compute engines and software, not just faster clocks.
Immersed 2017 Meals & Breaks
-
COFFEE BREAK / EXHIBITS
Immersed 2018: Manufacturing and Consumer Experience Design Track
-
Manufacturing and Consumer Experience Design Track
Charlie Choo, Studio 216
XR, How Future Computing is Transforming Imagination Into Reality
Immersive technologies (XR) like augmented, virtual, and mixed reality are gaining enterprise adoption. Digital transformation allows for more sophisticated interactions between people, places and things. These interactions can be modeled and visualized in a “digital twin”- a replica of a physical object or infrastructure. This twin can be leveraged to unlock new opportunities, create new efficiencies and enhance the way we run our factories, design our buildings or train our employees. Mr. Fleming will share actual case studies where immersive technologies are replacing traditional workflows and delivering results.
Immersed 2018: Manufacturing and Consumer Experience Design Track
-
Manufacturing and Consumer Experience Design Track
Simulating Tomorrow’s Solutions Using Today’s VR
Dr. Jason Jerald, CEO
Nextgen Interactions
Next-generation technologies have the potential to significantly impact society. However, by definition futuristic technologies are still at an early experimental stage and not yet ready to be used or fully tested. To propel development of upcoming tools, NextGen Interactions is utilizing a hybrid approach of integrating physical and virtual components to more efficiently test early prototypes in the context in which the products will eventually be used.
The session will cover example simulations, technical analysis of the technologies needed for such implementations, and challenges in integrating multiple technologies together. The talk will serve as an inspiration for attendees’ own use cases where there are less constraints than for consumer VR.
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
VR For Legalized Cannabis Education
Shain Wasserman, Shain Michael Design
Shain Michael Design was given the opportunity to work with several cannabis companies to help create digital media and virtual reality experiences. With the impending legalization of cannabis in Canada quickly approaching, proper awareness and education for the public is of utmost importance. Is virtual reality a viable platform for teaching people about this controversial substance? How can we use this digital tool to aid in providing awareness and knowledge of the cannabis industry?
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
Grasping Data With Immersive Technology
Ben Zimmer, Enable Education
By Dec 31st more data will have been created in 12 months than the previous 5,000 years.
There are 3 billion people and 22 billion devices connected to the Internet. And today, not only are we connected to the internet with our laptops and mobile phones but things like cars, fitness trackers, fridges and even toothbrushes are connecting, creating and sharing data.
There is too much data and the challenge for students, educators and businesses is knowing how to use data in a meaningful way. A way where data can be used to drive engagement, leverage your imagination, learn and work more productively and solve critical problems.
In this presentation we will demonstrate how students, educators and businesses can visually tranform data to insights, intelligence and take action on it. It will provide the audience with a forward looking view into emerging career opportunities in Data Science, Augmented Reality, the Industrial Internet of Things and Smart Factories.
Immersed 2018 Networking Periods
-
Networking Hour
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
The Artistry of VR
Olga Nabatova, Artist
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
Using VR / AR For Healthcare Education and Marketing
Dan Greenwald, CEO, White Rhino
VR and immersive technology can powerfully enhance healthcare education, and make healthcare education-based marketing and sales more effective. Dan will be speaking about some of those opportunities in healthcare and will go into depth on a VR project his company recently completed for Olympus Urology. You’ll learn how VR was uniquely used to educate physicians, while at the same time driving a record-setting marketing campaign for the Olympus Urological division.
Immersed 2018 Professional Sessions Complete
-
Immersed professional sessions over, setup for next segment.
Immersed 2017 General Presentations
-
Presentations
Why Blockchain Currency is Important to Marketers and Immersive Media
Michael Reed, CEO, Practical
While crypto currencies like Etherium and Bitcoin have taken the world by storm, the benefits go well beyond transferring resources from one place to the next - they also provide marketers valuable data which could make their operations more successful.
Mr. Reed will explain what crypto-currency is and discuss the unique applications of crypto-economies to media such as virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality. Which applications is this best suited for? Why do we need it? What are the true benefits of this new type of economy? How can businesses take advantage today?
These questions and more will be answered so delegates can better understand this new class of economy.
Immersed 2018 Students Night Out
-
Immersed Students Night Out
Strictly for students. Presentations, mentoring, exhibits.