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DISPLAY WEEK PROMISES TO IMMERSE ATTENDEES IN THE EXCITING WORLD OF AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY

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Campbell, CA and Austin, TX -

The Society for Information Display (SID) is gearing up to explore the exciting world of augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) during its annual Display Week, to be held May 21-26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. To this end, SID is teaming with Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), the OLED Association and Veritas et Visus, to produce the AR/VR Market Focus Conference (Wed., May 24th). This dedicated one-day conference, together with dozens of exhibitors and technical presentations throughout Display Week, will center on this exciting arena-offering attendees a unique experience unlike any other on the massive market potential afforded by AR and VR technologies over the next several years.

AR and VR are sometimes used interchangeably, but these technologies have very distinct differences and uses. While VR is fully immersive, shutting out one's surroundings, AR provides a virtual overlay to what the viewer is seeing in the real world-making VR ideal for gaming and entertainment, while AR is touted more for data-driven uses, like education and healthcare. This difference requires displays with different levels of performance. Displays for VR applications are typically larger, have very high resolution, high color gamut and high contrast with low to moderate brightness. On the other hand, displays for AR applications are smaller and require very high brightness while the color gamut and contrast requirements are moderate. As such, there is a growing trend in the industry that microdisplays (LCOS or OLED-based) could be the holy grail in satisfying both VR and AR requirements-a highly topical theme at this year's show.

According to Sri Peruvemba, SID Marketing Chair, "It's hard not to miss the news surrounding the AR/VR markets emerging in front of us, literally and figuratively. But there still are a lot of questions out there and general misperceptions. SID's premier Display Week is the ideal gathering for display experts, consumer electronics companies, integrators and general enthusiasts to all come together to look beyond the chatter and hype and really delve into what's needed for these technologies to build the ecosystem necessary to realize widespread acceptance and adoption."

Specifically, the AR/VR Market Focus Conference (part of the SID and DSCC co-produced Business Track) will examine the business and technical issues associated with these categories, and feature an exciting AR/VR device shootout among some of the best technologies currently on the market. The event will also feature compelling morning and afternoon keynotes from Ron Azuma, principal engineer at Intel Labs, on the characteristics and needs of AR and VR systems, particularly from display technologies; and John Fan, CEO of Kopin, on the era of microdisplays for AR/VR platforms, respectively. The event will also have featured speaker, John Underkoffler, Founder and CEO at Oblong Industries, and creator of the interactive imagery from "The Minority Report," during one of the highly-anticipated sessions, Representing Reality-Creating the Immersive Experience. Beyond that, there are a number of other session presentations and guaranteed lively panel discussions from experts spanning the ecosystem, and cover a sampling of topics that include:

• VR is a booming market; AR is expected to see similar market opportunities, but many analysts expect that a "mixed reality" solution may ultimately dominate. This will be explored in more depth along with the confluence of markets demanding these mixed market opportunities;
• New ways in which VR gaming solutions, such as VR headsets, are going to not only change the way we play games, but how we interact with large-scale visual modeling, etc.; and,
• Insight into what's coming next in VR software

While a full agenda and topics are listed here, speakers include a number of top experts from AMD, Argus Insights, Avegant, eMagin, Eon Reality, Fovi 3D, Immersive Technology Alliance, Jon Peddie Research, Luminit, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Sony, Samsung Display, Samsung Electronics and Triple Take Holographics.

Beyond the Market Focus Conference, there are a large number of companies exhibiting at Display Week that are involved in the AR/VR and wearables space. These, together with academic and industry experts speaking at the much-lauded Technical Symposium, will take these discussions to another level-making this week-long event a must see for those looking to get a better understanding of, or network with, the top trailblazers in the AR/VR and wearables space. The sessions are designed for scientists, engineers, business professionals, market analysts and industry leaders involved in AR/VR technologies, products, applications, advanced developments and emerging trends, and include:

• Systems and Applications
• Display Technologies for AR and VR Systems
• 3D-Sensing and Imaging Technologies
• Spatial Tracking, Localization, Mapping, and Navigation Techniques
• Computation, Graphics, and Display Processing
• Immersive Audio Technologies
• End-to-End System Integration and Latencies
• Inputs, Interfaces, and Interactions
• Human Factors and User Experience Considerations
• Mapping and Rendering of Virtual Objects onto Physical World
• Object, Human and Scene Capture, Reconstruction, Recognition and Understanding
• Biometrics and User Authentication

For more information on the exhibiting companies and Technical Symposium speakers at Display Week, visit www.displayweek.org.

Editor Background-VR vs. AR?
Some pundits view VR as the hare in this space, while casting AR as the tortoise that will ultimately win the race, given a wave of emerging companies that are touting enterprise applications, and broadening the opportunities for business growth. To become more widely adopted, AR displays must be small, comfortable and easy to use, while offering superior graphics and an authentic visual experience. To enable these, the display industry is focusing on several key areas, including reduced form factors while maintaining image quality and contrast. Also, the display must enable the wearer to experience excellent image tracking with very low latency during user movement. And then, there's the increasing development in the area of holographic/light fields, which may not require headsets at all. Speakers and exhibitors at Display Week will showcase what they are doing to address many of these goals-beyond content and the other necessary software and hardware infrastructure needed for these applications.

Since displays are a major component contributing to the user experience, SID conducted a survey to ascertain the current experience level and the expectations to help set the agenda for the Market Focus Conference on AR/VR/wearables. With more than 400 responses, the survey and results can be found here.

About Display Week 2017
The 54th SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, or Display Week 2017, will take place May 21-26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Display Week is the premier gathering of system integrators, designers, consumers, scientists, engineers and manufacturers in the field of electronic information displays. For more information on Display Week 2017, visit www.displayweek.org or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @DisplayWeek (hashtag #DisplayWeek17), Instagram @siddisplayweek or the Display Week YouTube Channel.

About SID
The Society for Information Display (SID) is the only professional organization focused on the display industry. In fact, by exclusively focusing on the advancement of electronic display technology, SID provides a unique platform for industry collaboration, communication and training in all related technologies while showcasing the industry's best new products. The organization's members are professionals in the technical and business disciplines that relate to display research, design, manufacturing, applications, marketing and sales. To promote industry and academic technology development, while also educating consumers on the importance of displays, SID hosts more than 10 conferences a year, including Display Week, which brings industry and academia all under one roof to showcase technology that will shape the future. SID's global headquarters are located at 1475 S. Bascom Ave., Ste. 114, Campbell, CA 95008. For more information, visit www.sid.org.