AUREA#2 recap

Let’s make the AUREA Award even bigger and better. With this claim we started the second year of the AUREA Award and Conference. This year, we are again celebrating the pitches of our finalists and the panels of the multi-day conference with a valuable network built in the last year. Our guests again were excited to see an extensive programme with a special flair at the Europa-Park. Pioneers, Oscar winners, politicians and renowned speakers in the field of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) came together to meet experts from all over the world and exchange views on the latest industry trends.

For the first discussion of the status quo of Immersive Tech & Entertainment – Is the future already here? with presenter Clark Parson we welcomed our guests in the newly renovated rooms of the theme hotel Krønasår. The following panel with the topic Building Scale - Tips and Tricks for Mass Market Adoption of Immersive Content & Tech under the direction of the futurist speaker and author Cathy Hackl clearly showed the high quality of the event. With the idea of the constantly growing community around the AUREA Award in mind, Clark Parson discussed with the community how the event could become a global meeting place for the Augmented & Virtual Reality industry: Crossing the Chasm: From a Scene to an Industry Ecosystem.

The AUREA Attendees concluded the day with a special get-together at the Rulantica Poolbar. VR Coster invited the brave participants to join the ultimate VR experience under water – a highlight that unanimously was perceived as exciting and positive as well as a learning aid when diving under water.

Expert jury honours pioneering projects

Ten finalists were chosen out of over 120 submissions and were given the opportunity to present their developments to an expert jury. Together with Kathleen Cohen (The Collaboratorium), who already chaired the jury last year, the following digital pioneers decided on the winners of the AUREA Award: Thomas Wagner (co-founder & CEO VR Coaster), Fred Lecompte (co-founder of BackLight and last year's winner), Cathy Hackl (Enterprise Partner Marketing, Magic Leap) and Frank Govaere (Animation Director, Producer & VFX Supervisor, UFA). Emily Olman, a well-known face of the AUREA community, led through the pitch presentations.

The second day opened with a presentation by Kathleen Cohen, who shared her exciting thoughts on and developments in Digital Twins and Virtual Beings: How the Advancing Ecosystem Populates Immersive Worlds?

Among the renowned experts and speakers of the second AUREA Award was Gerd Nefzer, who received an Oscar in the category "Best Visual Effects" in 2018. Dorothee Bär, Minister of State for Digital Affairs, also took the opportunity to greet the participants and finalists in a personal video message, while at the same time emphasising the importance of the award as a networking venue for the still young industry.

Michael Mack, Managing Director of MackNeXT, was impressed by the diversity of the entries. In his welcoming speech he emphasized the success potential of VR and AR applications: "No other medium can bring stories and even entire worlds to life in this way and make them tangible for people to experience. There are no limits to this technology".

The winners of this year's AUREA Award

The highlight of the two-day event was the gala on 16 January in the stylish Sala Bianca ballroom, which was presented by moderator Alexander Mazza. The ten finalists received the coveted AUREA Award in four different categories. The prize in the category "Interaction" went to the German company Hologate, whose products already inspire their users at more than 300 locations worldwide. With its latest VR innovation, the multiplayer movement simulator Hologate "Blitz", the Munich-based company was able to convince the jury. Cathy Hackl presented the award in the "Innovation" category to the team of Volucap. The start-up was founded in Babelsberg in 2018 and offers viewers the unique experience of moving freely in a walk-in movie. The inventors of "The 1944 Paris Insurrection" were delighted to receive the award in the "Influence" category. The company from France makes it possible to immerse oneself in the time of the liberation of the French capital while walking through the catacombs of Paris - a history lesson that gets under the skin, thus causing enthusiasm among the jury. The experts chose the idea of Holoride as the best "Experience”, using VR glasses to turn every car ride for passengers into a unique gaming experience. The software reacts to the movements of the vehicle and integrates them into the game without delay.