Augmented World Expo 2020

The Augmented World Expo is the biggest expo held worldwide in the fields of Augmented reality, virtual reality, and wearable technology. The Augmented World Expo 2020 was the 11th edition of the series and the first edition to ever be held online. There were many advantages and disadvantages of the expo being held online, but needless the organizers were adamant to make sure that the online version gives something more to the attendees than the expo has ever given in the physical format.

AWE is produced by AugmentedReality.org a non-profit organization. They hold the mission of 'Advancing Augmented Reality to Advance Humanity' wherein they have a goal to have 1 billion active users of AR by 2020.

AR.org facilitates and catalyzes the global and regional transformation of the AR industry by educating and boosting awareness about the real power of AR, Connecting the best talent around the world with the best in AR and hatching AR initiatives, and helping bring them to market.

The expo was held in three key areas around the world- AWE US, AWE EU, and AWE Asia.

AWE Asia was held both offline and online in a way that 35 speakers, around 700 in-person participants, and 20 exhibitors were present offline displaying the technologies with over 60,000 viewers streaming online. All necessary sanitizations and precautions were taken at the venue. This was one of the only XR trade shows to happen in an offline format since the pandemic. AWE Asia has 35 out of 46 speakers present in person.

AWE US streamed online from May 26th- May 29th, 2020. The event had a jam-packed schedule and attendees were asked to clear their calendars during the scheduled days just like they would if this was an offline event.

An offline event would consist of many aspects- attending live streams, trying and exploring new technologies, networking with investors or big names that are present during the event, and so on. The organizers tried to cover all those aspects by lining up multiple talks through the days and allowing the attendees to choose which talks they would like to attend well in advance. The site also gave the option to chat or schedule a meeting with other attendees who are present during the live streams to cover the aspect of potential networking opportunities. The site allowed an option to explore various technologies related to VR, AR, and XR if the attendee had access to certain equipment at home. All these aspects made the virtual edition better, if not as good as an offline one, as this allowed people to tune in and contribute to sharing ideas remotely. The people who could not attend due to geographical or financial reasons could now have access to the leading Augmented expo of the world.

The Expo worked around the theme of 'Its time to go Spatial' emphasizing the advancement of spatial computing. Spatial computing refers to the process of using digital technology to make computers interact seamlessly in a three-dimensional world using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). Spatial computing uses physical space to send input and receive output from a computer.

For instance, if you were to place an augmented teacup over a coffee table, the cup would follow the laws of gravity, and would also understand the presence of the table and hence would stay on the table just as if you're keeping a real teacup. The expo emphasized the work spatial computing plays on the progression in technology on all fronts, be it the medical field or your day-to-day life; everything can have an element of spatial computing that would enhance the quality of life. There were many talks in the expo elaborating on the use of spatial computing in the medical field, in training and development, in gadgets and gaming, etc.  This is exactly what Atthah deals in as well. AR and VR have become an indispensable part of life- from GPS navigation to playing Pokemon Go, it is everywhere. Brands have understood that keeping up with the technology has long-term benefits for growth and advancement and that's why big brands like Oculus, Walmart, Amazon, Disney, Facebook, etc. were present at the expo. Tapping on this need, Atthah comes up with creative and innovative ideas for brands to have the first initiative towards the future- a new world where everything is digital but real, and real but digital.