Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, September 12, 2024, the XR Association (XRA) and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) hosted the fourth annual AR/VR Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. The hybrid event highlighted the growing use cases of immersive technology and the legislative and regulatory landscape facing XR technology across federal, state, and international policymaking.
The full-day event featured panel discussions on various topics, including immersive technology’s impact on global competition and the future of work, youth safety, privacy, and AR/VR technology’s impact on healthcare. Moderators included XRA’s Senior VP of Public Policy, Joan O’Hara, Axios’ Ashley Gold, ITIF’s Alex Ambrose and Daniel Castro, and POLITICO’s Christine Mui.
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) opened the day with a keynote address highlighting the importance of technology innovation for the US economy and the development of education with AI and XR. The Senator pointed to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent report, which found that federal civilian agencies are increasingly utilizing immersive technology for data collection, workforce training, and other office functions. As the leading country in XR technology and innovation, Sen. Blackburn explained the importance of remaining a world leader through policymaking and standards development, including the Leadership and Standards Act and a national privacy and data security bill.
Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) sat down with XRA’s CEO, Elizabeth Hyman for a fireside discussion on the convergence of AI and XR and the economic and market opportunities these complementary technologies present. Rep. DelBene gave insights into the status of a forthcoming XR strategic leadership bill and the urgent need to pass legislation in the coming weeks, saying, “We need to start now and make progress as opposed to doing nothing.” The Congresswoman also discussed the importance of developing domestic tech policies before the US can develop international standards to secure “a seat at the international table.”
In addition to Congresswoman DelBene and Senator Blackburn, ITIF’s Daniel Castro spoke with authors Louis Rosenberg and Alvin Wang on their new book, Our Next Reality. The pair shared insights and experiences from the book and discussed the importance and impact AI and the metaverse will have on society.
Ziad Asghar, Vice President of Product Management at Qualcomm, continued the conversation with XRA’s Hyman in a fireside chat on the use cases and integrations for AR/VR content.
The event also featured two lighting talks from Brooke Morrill, Senior Director of Education at Schell Games, who talked about user safety and content moderation and Cavrnus’ Anthony Duca with an introduction to digital twins.
“Over the past few years, the AR/VR Policy Conference has grown into an established leadership event for addressing the critical policy questions and issues influencing the responsible growth of immersive technologies,” Hyman said. “We’re grateful for our member companies and the work they’ve done to advance the application of XR technologies and heartened to see the expanding engagement by policy makers in the important conversations about our future computing platform.”
Throughout the event, attendees were able to experience XR firsthand through demonstrations from partners Qualcomm, Sony Interactive Entertainment, MediView XR, Cavrnus, ScopeAR, Reulay, and XRAI. Demo partner XRAI had live captioning running throughout the program for attendees to follow along with. XRA member companies allowed attendees to enter immersive experiences through MediView’s XR90 Holographic Surgical Navigation System, Cavrnus’ Digital Twin demos on desktop and virtual reality, and PlayStations VR2 controllers.
You can watch the full live stream of panels and discussions for the conference here on Youtube.
