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June 27, 2024 - A6K invites you to the second edition of “IMMERSIVE, tech summer celebrations” – the must-attend end-of-year event dedicated to immersive technologies, organized with XR Wallonia.

This edition was particularly special because, beyond the workshops and use-cases where you could experience various technologies, this year we also offered inspiring talks and keynotes, thanks to a close collaboration with a joint event by Agoria: “Web3, the convergence of possibilities.” Without further ado, discover the program recap in this article.

Early in the evening, Agoria joined the event with the first edition of a series of events “Web3 Convergence of Possibilities,” introduced by Clarisse Ramakers, the General Director of Agoria.

This was followed by inspiring talks on “the role of Web3 technologies and energy efficiency” with Salvatore Provenzano, VP Global Partnership, SettleMint, Denys Bornauw, Digital Expert, Agoria Wallonia, Manu Cluten, VIVAQUA, and Robert David, Technord.

Next, a “ping-pong” discussion between Sébastien Nahon and Jean-François Delaigle, respective representatives for XR Wallonia (Hitt) and Madein Wal, titled “Fortnite Season 5 is approaching, and it will take place in a factory,” highlighted the synergies between XR and the industry at A6K!

“IMMERSIVE” continued with an introduction by Thierry Jourquin, XR Wallonia, partner of this 2024 edition, offering two panels.

A roundtable exploring how companies maximize the value of their digital assets in immersive and interactive virtual environments. The discussion, led by Alexis Bonnet, Advanced & Creative Design Director at Alstom, and Freddy Koné, Technical Director for SoWhen?, showcased their collaboration in creating the Alstom Virtual Universe — a 5 km² digital world that can be explored in real time, presenting all of Alstom’s areas of activity. This session addressed the creation, optimization, and use of digital heritage through various use cases, providing valuable insights into the benefits of these technologies for training, communication, and interactive simulations.

Then, Juan Bossicard, Strategic Campaign Manager Metaverse Europe, and Jeremy Zeegers-Jourdain, Public Policy Manager Belgium & Luxembourg at Meta, explained how Meta unlocks possibilities for the XR ecosystem, particularly through the AI developed on their algorithms. Meta is opening the operating system of its Meta Quest devices to third-party hardware makers, partnering with leading technology companies to create a new ecosystem of mixed reality devices and simplify app development for a broader audience. This open ecosystem is designed to expand the reach and impact of mixed reality globally for both individuals and businesses.

Participants were then invited to experience no fewer than 24 workshops.

Discover Alstom’s digital heritage through innovative immersive, interactive, and phygital experiences by SoWhen?

• Explore the Alstom Virtual Universe, a 5 sqm interactive real-time environment created with Unreal Engine to discover Alstom’s products and services. Transition from macro to micro views with a click, accessing information as needed in this strategic tool deployed in eight countries, supporting seven services, representing 30 products, producing eight varied applications, 227 images, and 59 videos.

• Learn about Alstom’s cybersecurity roles through a phygital AAA-style serious game set in Alstom’s virtual world, developed with Unreal Engine. With a connected flashlight, highlight cybersecurity threats in Alstom’s environments.

• Take on challenges proposed by the Alstom team in their Fortnite universe? We indeed created a gamified environment and story within Fortnite, a new immersive social network, to allow everyone to discover Alstom’s universe with assets (train, warehouse…) taken from the Alstom Virtual Universe.

Transform learning into immersive experiences by Owlion Studio.

Owlion Studio plunged you into innovation, showing how they turn internal communication and training challenges into competitive advantages. Their pioneering approach integrates gamified training, creates immersive universes via WebGL and extended reality technologies (VR/AR/XR), and brings content to life through interactive media in 2D/3D animations and creations.

Through this encounter, experience tomorrow’s onboarding in VR, where new employee reception is enriched and personalized. Discover training paths where learning the highway code or a new language is as captivating as playing a video game. Finally, see how they highlight occupational risks in various industries through memorable simulations that reduce accidents.

Digital transformations: Dive into the world of Apple Vision Pro, by Innovation Lab.

During this exclusive immersive experience, discover how the Apple Vision Pro can transform your field of activity. Whether in training, maintenance, safety, industry, or logistics, explore the disruptive potential of this innovative technology. Join us to understand how the Apple Vision Pro can optimize your processes, improve your efficiency, and open new perspectives for your business.

User Experience of the future Cockpit, by AISIN Europe.

As an automotive-related project, the company initially used real cars but quickly realized they couldn’t test everything they wanted, such as dangerous situations. The need for a driving simulator became obvious. After analyzing the market and finding nothing that met their needs, they decided to build their simulator based on the Open-Source Carla project. It is now a central tool to test most of their concepts.

The sensation of sound in total immersion, by RTBF.

RTBF invited you to a unique experience of letting go, plunging you into a three-dimensional sound fresco. This immersive journey transported participants into a world of captivating sounds, where every note and vibration was designed to awaken the senses. Participants were swept away by this symphony, where cutting-edge technology met art to create an unforgettable auditory experience.

XR for boosting sales or making training more effective, really? By Deloitte Digital.

Deloitte Digital proved that immersive experiences are becoming profitable faster, whether to present products and their benefits or make training more impactful. Come see for yourself how immersive experiences are becoming increasingly cost-effective.

Prevention and Safety: virtual reality simulations for proper mechanical isolation and overcoming vertigo, by Vigo Creative.

This “Prevention and Safety” workshop by Vigo Creative offered an immersive experience through two experiences:

• Awareness of prevention: performing proper mechanical isolation in a nuclear power plant, a crucial step to ensure safety during maintenance and repair operations. This simulation raises awareness of the importance of safety protocols to prevent accidents.

• Overcoming vertigo: overcoming the fear of heights. This exercise is designed to help users manage their fear of heights and build confidence.

Great challenges require great solutions: train more effectively and quickly with XR training, by Altheria.

In this workshop, we discovered the paradigm shift that training managers are experiencing: in an era where more and more training is mandatory and frequent, and where the importance of training is central, the role of the trainer is evolving, with more tools available to train teams effectively. We saw how immersive technologies can be useful and relevant for achieving unparalleled training efficiency.

A virtual world accessible from a meeting request, by MIC.

Through this workshop, discover how virtual reality and artificial intelligence integrate directly into your videoconferencing tools, facilitating access to interactive and personalized virtual worlds. To illustrate this potential, you received a Teams invitation that projected you into MIC’s virtual offices. Your mission: collaborate to organize an AI conference by arranging spaces, simulating participant activities, and even generating the speaker, their speech, and slides. Without moving, immerse yourself in the conference you envisioned and make adjustments that would have been impossible to see otherwise. This demonstration allows you to imagine concrete use cases in your activity, some immediately applicable and others quickly developable.

VR Factory: an immersive dive into a 4.0 company by XR Intelligence & Sirris.

Equipped with VR glasses, participants discover a company before and after 4.0 transformations, allowing them to evaluate the benefits.

Interactive Immersion in Simulation Worlds, by inMersiv Technologies.

Through this interactive experience, discover the latest advances in interactive immersion! Dive into the digital twin of SamCube and experience personalized sessions in interactive and photorealistic environments thanks to Sam Wellness.

Unprecedented VR training for urban logistics, by Espaces-Mobilités - Laboratoire Sp8ce.

During this VR experience, immerse yourself in the reality of urban deliveries in our virtual reality training module, developed with Unity and MindPort.

The Fab-C Workshops: resources, 3D scanning and printing, by Fab-C.

Fab-C took us through its workshop, Resources - 3D Scanning and Printing. A great opportunity to experiment with different survey techniques (laser, structured light, photogrammetry, and 3D printing). And especially an opportunity for project leaders to try duplicating objects through 3D printing, see how to accessorize an existing market product, take precise measurements of parts for repair or maintenance, communicate about a project with a virtual model, or even manufacture custom products.

3D object digitization methods and their applications, by 3D Fazz.

3D Fazz presented three 3D scanning techniques: structured light scanning, laser scanning, and photogrammetry.

• The “Structured Light Scanning” method uses the projection of light patterns on the object to create a map of its surface. It is a precise and fast technique, ideal for capturing fine details of small objects.

• Laser scanning, on the other hand, relies on emitting a laser beam that scans the object. This technique is excellent for scanning large objects with high precision.

• Photogrammetry uses photographs taken from different angles to reconstruct a 3D model. It is a versatile and accessible method, perfect for projects requiring modeling from real images.

Throughout this workshop, you could not only demonstrate these techniques but also try them yourself. An opportunity to scan different objects, compare the results obtained with each method, and understand their practical applications in various

Immerse yourself in video in the factory of the future, by HiTT - XR Wallonia - Media Innovation & Intelligibility Lab – MiiL.

When the world of traditional audiovisual meets that of virtual reality. A new world of learning and product presentation opens up. Thanks to XR Wallonia (HiTT) & Media Innovation & Intelligibility Lab – MiiL, you were able to immerse yourself in video in the factory of the future.

Street AR, by XR Academy Technocité.

The XR Academy harnesses the potential of immersive and interactive technologies grouped under the term "XR" (AR, VR, and all devices enabling an interactive experience) to serve the five areas of strategic innovation (health, circular materials, energy, agri-food, environment, production-design) for Wallonia's Research and Innovation policy and Industrial policy. The Tourism, Culture, and Heritage sectors, both a testing ground for XR and an asset for the territory's attractiveness, also complement the offer. In this context, the XR Academy brought Carolo street art to life through their "Street AR" workshop.

3D World reconstruction, by OpenHub – UCLouvain.

In this interactive workshop, we invite you to discover our simulator. Using a ZED camera, we record real environments and reconstruct them in immersive virtual reality. You will have the opportunity to walk through these virtual environments as if you were there.

Discover Scratch, our fully robotized service dog, by TomorrowLab.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to move around with robots? Scratch, TomorrowLab's robotized dog, showed us its capabilities and can even move autonomously. It can reach speeds of up to 18 km/h and carry a load of up to 5 kg.

Media training for start-ups, by StartupVie.

Through their "media training for start-ups" workshop, the Startup Vie team encouraged start-ups to speak on camera. An interesting activity for public speaking. Our CEO, Abd-Samad Habbachi, tried it out, and to say he loved it would be an understatement! Curious to see the result? #StayTuned it's coming soon!

How Accenture applies immersive technologies, by Accenture.

Accenture took us into immersive technologies during its workshop, where we discovered the application of immersive technologies & artificial intelligence in business. The application of Nvidia Omniverse in an industrial setting and the illustration of XR and virtual worlds for training.

Let's now discover the Factory of the Future (4.0) concepts through the serious game, by Sirris.

Premiere of the Factory of the Future Sirris serious game, which will be available to companies at the end of 2024. This tool will allow managers to understand and evaluate the interest of Industry 4.0 concepts through an interactive approach. Stay tuned, launch imminent.

Battle Arena, by Arduinna Silva Studio.

The revolutionary new game from Arduinna Silva Studio: Battle Arena! The latest gem for LBE (Location-Based Entertainment) leisure rooms is finally here. Battle Arena promises a highly dynamic and thrilling arena game experience!

• 4 formidable weapons: pistol, shotgun, machine gun, and sniper rifle.

• Total free-roaming: free movement over vast areas.

• Run, hide, jump into action... freedom is total!

• Up to 8 players simultaneously.

• Smooth streaming thanks to NVIDIA CloudXR.

• Cutting-edge Pico headsets for total immersion.

• Developed on Unreal Engine for stunning graphics and unprecedented playability.

This new game enriches the automated immersive experience control platform, allowing you to switch games at will from our existing catalog. An intense adventure pushing your limits in our Battle Arena!

Avatar Controller Toolkit (ACT): A Tool for Intelligent Interactive Avatar Control, by Le Click – UMONS.

Presentation of an avatar control tool using facial expressions and audio recorded or generated by AI systems. This tool offers the flexibility to connect any algorithm for controlling the agent's expressions, thus customizing the conversational AI algorithm managing interaction with the user.

Indoor Scene Generator Toolkit (ISGT): Generating Synthetic Data from a Virtual Environment, by Le Click – UMONS.

The tool allows the generation of images with associated metadata such as the distance and angle between the simulated camera and specific objects in the image. This tool enables the creation of synthetic data for training machine learning systems.

The workshops are coming to an end, making way for networking. And what better way to end the evening than with music for a relaxed atmosphere.

Thank you all for being an integral part of the A6K family, the cream of industry and technology.

The support and collaboration of all the aforementioned members and partners have been essential to our success, and we look forward to continuing this journey together. Together, we will write the next chapter of innovation and growth!

We hope to see you soon at our next events as we continue to push the limits of what is possible.