The XR Association (XRA), the premier trade association representing major tech firms for virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, announced on Tuesday it had expanded its organisation with eight new members.
New members include XR firms Taqtile, Genesys Impact, Immersive Worlds LLC, Elm Park Labs, Pearson, Mieron, Schell Games, and Striver.
The new members will work jointly along with the XRA’s three core pillars – Community, Advocacy, and Leadership – to liaise and team up with industry colleagues as well as build new relationships.
The XRA will also provide a forum for outlining the future of the XR industry with concepts such as legislative and policy frameworks as well as new research and ideas.
Liz Hyman, Chief Executive of the XRA, said that her Association was “grateful” for and welcoming to all the new members as “we come together to support the responsible development and thoughtful advancement of XR.”
She continued, stating,
“Our members are anticipating the solutions XR presents in not only a consumer setting but in tangible industries like education, healthcare, and manufacturing. We share our new members’ excitement about the limitless possibilities of XR technology”
Aneesh Kulkarni, Chief Technology Officer of Striver, added his company had seen how the adoption of technologies had transformed how people “engage, learn, and work.”
Explaining further, he said,
“Strivr’s enterprise VR platform has optimized and scaled VR-based learning for some of the largest companies in the world to elevate workforce performance. We look forward to collaborating with XRA and its fellow members to continue leading the advancement of the industry”
The news comes as the organisation hosts its Limitless Future Conference in November this year, with registrations currently open for attending. Last year’s half-day event gathered professionals and executives across the industry to explore training and education use cases for immersive technology.
#SaveTheDate: We are hosting the Limitless Future Conference for the second year in a row!
Our conference focuses on #LearningAndDevelopment, bringing together professionals with #XR to learn & experience the benefits of #immersivetech.
Register here:https://t.co/2aoq51AAJP pic.twitter.com/LLmTp7unlS
— XR Association (@XRAssociation) May 31, 2022
Organisations such as the Greater Atlanta Chapter, Jobs for the Future, the Association of Talent Development, and the Society for Resource Management (SHRM) in Atlanta attended the Conference.
The news comes amid recent legislative victories in the US Congress, namely after President Joe Biden signed off on the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act on Tuesday last week, approving $52.7 billion USD for chipmakers and immersive tech firms.
The XRA also onboarded technology giants Qualcomm, Unity, and Accenture as members amid rapid growth in the XR sector and rising demand for immersive onboarding platforms to tackle the ongoing labour shortage.
It currently represents dozens of the world’s most innovative and largest tech companies, including HTC VIVE, Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, Accenture, Qualcomm, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, among many others. The XRA also aims to develop best practices for the industry, develop common standards and frameworks for XR technologies and the Metaverse, and provide platforms for dialogue.
