Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, September 14, the XR Association (XRA) – a leading trade association in the augmented, mixed, and virtual reality ecosystem – released the Reality Check Primer, which summarizes the key highlights and findings from the forthcoming white paper, Reality Check: Why the U.S. Government Should Nurture XR Development. This paper, researched and co-authored by XRA and The Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub at George Washington University, examines U.S. competitiveness in immersive technologies and takes an honest look at where America stands relative to allies and competitors in fostering the enabling environment needed to support the development, growth, and adoption of XR.
“As the Biden Administration has said, we are at a moment in history where emerging technologies are poised to retool economies and reshape the world. One of the technologies that will have the broadest and most profound impact is XR. XR is expected to be the next major computing platform, and AR, VR, and MR are impacting sectors from healthcare and education to manufacturing and national security,” said Elizabeth Hyman, President and CEO of the XR Association. “While the U.S. Congress highlighted immersive technology as a key focus area in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the United States is well behind other nations that have already developed robust national strategies to nurture and govern it.”
“XR is a transformative technology that is already driving economic growth and impacting strategic challenges like climate, workforce development, and industrial productivity. The U.S. is the world’s largest market by revenue for immersive technologies and one of the world’s largest producers of XR content and hardware; yet we are behind the curve,” said Joan O’Hara, Senior Vice President of Public Policy at the XR Association. “Other countries see XR dominance as their chance to own the future of computing and bolster their economic influence – and they are actively pursuing that end. Our objective in writing this paper is to provide an unvarnished look at the current state of play around XR, and encourage stakeholders to position the U.S. as the world leader in immersive tech. We hope it will be an eye-opener.”
The primer, released at the AR/VR Policy Conference, summarizes the key research and recommendations resulting from the study. The full white paper will be released publicly later this month.
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