Agenda

10:30 AM

Registration Opens

11:00 AM

Welcome Remarks

11:05 AM

Keynote Speaker - Rep. Darrell Issa

11:20 AM

Panel #1: Online Safety, Free Speech, and Content Moderation in the New Digital Town Square 

Shared virtual worlds have existed for decades but shared, immersive experiences may soon become more ubiquitous. As a multitude of interpersonal communications shift to virtual environments—such as company meetings, online dating, social gatherings, and public hearings—balancing protecting free speech while mitigating harms such as misinformation will become more difficult. Not only will platforms have to contend with the challenges of moderating real-time, text, audio, and video, but they will also have to handle the added complexity of monitoring and responding to embodied avatar’s gestures, behavior, and clothing. How should policy and engineering tools evolve to address these issues? How will content moderation change in the metaverse? And how will questions about competition impact free speech, harmful speech, and content moderation? 

Speakers:

  • Farzaneh Badiei (Digital Trust and Safety Partnership)

  • Shane Tews (AEI)

  • Christina Jackson (Meta)

  • Miranda Lutz (XR Association) - Moderator

12:00 PM

Lightning Talks: Round #1

  • Chike Aguh (US Department of Labor) -The Role of AR/VR Innovation in the Workforce

  • Dan Risko (TRANSFR Inc.) - How AR/VR Is Shaping The Way We Train Our Workforce

12:20 PM

Lunch Break 

Network with colleagues in the field and visit the AR/VR Demo room, featuring demos by Meta, Hope for Haiti, HTC, Great Lakes Reality, and more!

1:00 PM

Panel #2: Privacy in the Metaverse: Setting Expectations and Separating Fact from Fiction 

Innovations in XR are supporting exciting new uses that touch upon healthcare, education, workforce training, and virtually every sector of our economy; and may hold promise for persons with disabilities and other underrepresented communities. As more users of all ages flock to immersive virtual spaces, a vast array of stakeholders—including software developers, hardware manufacturers, platform providers, policymakers, and consumers—will all need to work together to ensure privacy and safety in XR devices and the metaverse. Advances in augmented and virtual reality have given rise to a new vocabulary to discuss these novel concerns such as “biometric psychography” and “neuro-rights.”  There are many worthy ideas on how privacy should be baked into this technology, but which ideas are most feasible, and when can we expect them?  Finally, how will existing and proposed online privacy and safety legislation impact the communications platforms of the future? 

Speakers:

  • Maureen Ohlhausen (Former Federal Trade Commission Acting Chairwoman)

  • Dylan Gilbert (NIST)

  • Karim Mohammadali (Google)

  • Juan Londoño (ITIF) - Moderator

1:45 PM

Break

1:50 PM

Panel #3: From Virtual Embassies to Immersive War Games: How AR/VR Will Reshape National Defense, Government Services, and International Relations

Digital transformation has improved the delivery of government services to citizens and businesses, established innovative capabilities for national security and defense, and unlocked new opportunities to improve international relations and diplomacy. The development of AR/VR offers new opportunities to reimagine digital transformation across government, with some especially unique applications for defense and diplomacy such as to facilitate immersive training, virtual peace talks, and humanitarian action. How should governments begin to leverage these tools today, and what capabilities should they begin to build for the future? How important will AR/VR be for national security, and how should the United States work with its allies to collaborate on this technology? And how can governments work together to use AR/VR to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility?  

Speakers:

  • Vaughan Turekian (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine)

  • Dirck Schou (Taqtile)

  • Chris Hample (Booz Allen Hamilton)

  • Maynard Holliday (Department of Defense)

  • Joan O’Hara (XR Association) - Moderator

2:35 PM

Panel #4: My Avatar’s Gucci Handbag is a Knock-Off!: Intellectual Property in the Creator Economy

Immersive technologies will create new opportunities for people to buy and sell virtual goods, design virtual clothing, share digital media, build lifelike avatars, and even develop virtual property. All these activities, as well as other services that may be provided in virtual worlds, are impacted by various intellectual property (IP) laws, including those on trademark, trade dress, copyright, and patents. In a virtual world, which country’s IP laws apply? How will disputes be settled?  How will rightsholders protect their content, brand, and identity? What role will NFTs and crypto play in addressing (or exacerbating) these issues? And how should the United States work with other countries to protect its IP rights abroad? 

Speakers:

  • Michael Toner (Threedium)

  • Dan Jasnow (ArentFox Schiff)

  • Kayleigh Nauman (United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office)

  • Daniel Castro (ITIF) - Moderator

3:20 PM

Break

3:30 PM

Lightning Talk: Round #2

  • Steven Swartz (Tobii) - Assessing the Role of Eye Tracking in the Industry

3:45 PM

Panel #5: Jobs, Skills, and Productivity: What the Metaverse Means for the Global Economy 

This next wave of digital innovation will have profound impacts on how people shop, work, and trade. As economic activity shifts to 3D and virtual spaces, it will be important to consider how this transformation will impact education, healthcare, commerce, travel, and more. What new job opportunities will arise from the metaverse, and what sectors will be most impacted? Can XR technologies help level the playing field and close the opportunity gap? How will global supply chains respond to rising demand for technological inputs for AR/VR devices and how can XR help solve today’s supply and labor constraints? What will be the currency of the metaverse, and who will control it? What investments in skills, technology, and data should governments and the private sector consider making now in order to unlock the economic potential of the next phase of the Internet? And how will all these changes impact the global economy? 

Speakers:

  • Aaron Kleiner (Unity)

  • Eli Noam (Columbia University Business School)

  • Kristina Francis (JFFLabs)

  • Liz Hyman (XR Association) - Moderator

4:30 PM

Lightning Talks: Round #3

  • Robert Fine (IVRHA) - The Present and Future of AR/VR in Healthcare

  • Kristina Podnar - Key Principles for a Safe AR/VR Experience

5:00 PM

Network Reception Begins

6:00 PM

Conference Concludes

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