The VR/AR Global Summit Europe will take place in Lisbon, Portugal in June 2019

To learn more about the VR/AR Global Summit Europe, see here


Lisbon, December 10, 2018

The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is organizing the VR/AR Global Summit Europe in Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2019.

After organizing the VR/AR Global Summit in Vancouver (see here), the largest global ecosystem of VR/AR companies, brands, and professionals is now focused on hosting in Lisbon the premiere European community and conference for industry leaders in immersive technology content, knowledge, and creation.

The VR/AR Global Summit Europe will take place in June, 2019. The event will feature dynamic keynotes, industry tracks, workshops, creative hubs, demos, exhibits, breakouts and amazing VIP events. It will showcase the best that the industry has to offer.

The VR/AR Global Summit Europe continues the mission of the VR/AR Association of facilitating growth, knowledge and connections across the globe, and across industry verticals for VR/AR.  The growing VRARA member base and thousands of registered companies & brands have been asking for this type of interactive and innovative conference,” said Nathan Pettyjohn, Founder and President of the VR/AR Association.

Lisbon, sometimes referred to as "The San Francisco of Europe", is #5 in the Startup Ecosystem Globally, and boasts a remarkable growth on the innovation economy in the last 3 years, On the crossroads of Europe, North America and Brazil, more and more big brands are coming to Lisbon in search of tech talent.  

“VR/AR Global Summit Europe is designed to bring together both industry leading solution providers as well as the brands and companies looking to deploy these types of technologies to improve and enhance their business. In addition to enterprise, we also have an exciting gaming and entertainment program planned," says Kris Kolo, Global Executive Director, VRARA.

Lisbon has become a VR/AR startup scene, along with production companies working for big brands. “Lisbon is a global hub for immersive technologies that boasts over 60 companies working directly in the VR/AR space. I am very excited to work with such an amazing organization as the VRARA to produce this event. This will be the largest, and best show of its kind in Europe,” says Anne-Marie Enns, Executive Producer of the VR/AR Global Summit.

As the knowledge-based employment rises in Lisbon and with VR/AR industry gaining momentum, we believe there is no better place to discuss the present and future of this reality. "We are very excited to host VR/AR Global Summit 2019 in Lisbon. We believe this Global Summit will be an important contribution to our vision of making Lisbon one of the most innovative and creative cities in Europe." says Paulo Soeiro Carvalho, General Director for Economy and Innovation at the Lisbon City Council.

To learn more about the VR/AR Global Summit Europe, see here

About VRARA

The VR/AR Association (VRARA) is an international organization designed to foster collaboration between innovative companies and people in the VR and AR ecosystem that accelerates growth, fosters research and education, helps develop industry standards, connects member organizations and promotes the services of member companies.

VRARA has the mission & passion for accelerating smart growth at a global scale for the VR AR industry. We are a global team with Chapters in major cities around the world to help you locally and connect you to global opportunities.

In addition, VRARA's initiatives such as Industry Committees, Training Program, University Partner Program, and other Resources connect members cross vertical knowledge, and help members accelerate their go-to-market strategy, and connect organizations with the best solution providers for each use case.



Look what’s happening in Portugal! The VR/AR Ecosystem is Becoming one of the Strongest in Europe

Sign up for our upcoming VR/AR Global Summit in Europe here

Already 60+ companies, agencies, brands in Portugal now work in VR/AR. Besides the big international players like Accenture and others, Portugal-based companies include:

IT People’s Next Reality has received the award for Developer Experience Partner of the Year Portugal. Microsoft says, “IT People has set themselves apart for their prodigious competence in the field of Augmented Reality and through their work in the platform Micorsoft HoloLens in Portugal, as well as other geographic areas, and was one of the ISVs to publish a HoloLens App on the Micorosoft Store.”

GEMA Digital - Founded in 2007, Gema is an innovative Portuguese company with an extraordinary knowledge of technological creativity designing, creating and installing solutions. Gema is specialized in 3D and 4D Experiences, Holograms, Projections, Video Mapping, VR/AR, Multitouch, Interactive Games, Online Games and Apps. Its major expertise is combining these technologies to build exciting solutions designed for Brand Activation, Short Term Events and Permanent Installations. GEMA has developed hundreds of tailored projects for leading brands such as FIFA, Coca-Cola, Disney, Gant, Samsung, Nike, L’Oreal, BP, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Chevron, Seat, Citroen, Esso, Optimus, Portucel Soporcel Group, Unicer, Sonangol, among others.

Also, we are publishing a Report soon to showcase the VR/AR Ecosystem in Portugal. Email luis@thevrara.com for the report!

Watch this video showcasing some of the top VR/AR innovators and leaders in Portugal:

Bellow are some videos about GEMA:

GEMA Portfolio on Museums

GEMA VR

GEMA Total Immersion (Gema brand’s for VR, AR)

GEMA VR for Health

GEMA X-PLora Case (an APP guide that has AR and that we have launched for Benfica Football Club last month).

AR Smartglasses in the Works by LusoVU in Portugal

Come meet LusoVU at our upcoming VR/AR Global Summit Europe.

More info and sign up here

LusoVU’s mission is improve life by connecting people beyond the human senses and to be the catalyzer of the new human interaction paradigm.

LusoVU develops AR solutions, using a unique and innovative technology. LusoVU continues its work on natural human interfaces; haptic interface (in a very simplistic way, hands movements) or eyetracking (eyes movements). These technologies will allow for a whole new way for humans to interact with the virtual world.

LusoVU is developing AR smartglasses, uniquely elegant with a huge field of view. The smartglasses characteristics include:

  • Lightness The hI-DO concept will reduce drastically the overall mass of any head mounted display that will use this technology.

  • Comfort With reduced mass comes physical comfort. The larger field of view will also bring eye comfort. The fact that this solution can be embedded into corrective lenses will also bring added comfort to users of prescription glasses. And comfort is a key characteristic for ubiquity.

  • Elegance With very thin lenses, head mounted displays using the hI-DO technology will be as elegant as a normal pair of glasses or sunglasses.

  • Usefulness The hI-DO will allow AR to become omnipresent in our lives. Head mounted displays, opposed to mobile phones or tablets, are wearable hands-free devices. As such they will unleash all the Augmented Reality potential which in turn will originate a series of new applications and uses for this new breed of eyewear.

  • New interactions LusoVU continues its work on natural human interfaces. Be it haptic interface (in a very simplistic way, hands movements) or eyetracking (eyes movements) these technologies will allow for a whole new way for humans to interact with the virtual world.

  • Large field of view While using any head mounted display, the sensation of immersion on a virtual or virtually increased world is directly related to the device’s field of view. The major breakthrough coming out of the hI-DO technology is certainly the very large field of view. While initially set to be 70 by 50 degrees, theoretically it can as big as one wants.

LusoVU is a Portuguese startup, founded in 2013 as a spin-off of LusoSpace, a company specialized in satellites components, which operates since 2002. It has prominent clients such as the European Space Agency.

More about LusoSpace

LusoSpace is a private space company composed by multidisciplinary highly qualified engineers on physics, electronics, optics and mechanics. LusoSpace’s vision is to lead the space sector in Portugal. Furthermore, LusoSpace aim to develop terrestrial applications which result from the space experience and its success.

Since its first year of activity, LusoSpace has been in the front line of technological innovation. Being the first Portuguese company to fly critical space hardware, we are proud to be a national reference for the society. Our skills were demonstrated by establishing a high tech company in the space sector, without strong initial investments or corporate support.

Main customers are ESA - European Space Agency, EADS-Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. ESA is the major european entity driving for new developments in the space sector. EADS - Astrium and Thales Alenia Space are the main european satellites manufacturers driving the space sector as a commercial activity.

The Portugal Ecosystem Revealed at the VRARA WebSummit Executive Event

The Web Summit attracted 70,000 attendees and VRARA Lisbon Chapter hosted an executive dinner where it was announced that 50+ companies, agencies, brands in Portugal now work in VR/AR. We are publishing an Ecosystem Report soon to showcase this. Email luis@thevrara.com for the report!

IMG_0539 (1).JPG
IMG_0523.jpg
IMG_0540 (1).JPG