About the presentation

Standing at the Edge; Production in VR
Take a deep dive into the landscape of Virtual Reality and explore the challenges facing Producers and leaders in this new medium.  Kim will discuss both the opportunities and the roadblocks in this fast-moving world of technology and art, as well as strategies for setting productions up for success.

About the workshop

Making your VR Project a Reality
Kim Adams and David Bowman co-host this workshop in which we will discuss the kinds of projects best suited for VR / immersive formats.  Participants can bring their projects and proposals and we will advise on how to take them to the next level by providing practical feedback. We will help to define the biggest creative and technical challenges of your project, as well as brainstorming solutions and helping to clarify the kind of team needed to execute the experience.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Kim Adams
Title: Principal
Name of the company: Source Consulting (or you can say formerly of Oculus/Google/Pixar)
Website of the company: (website not current)

Speaker biography: Kim began her journey in the industry working her way up the editorial ranks on major feature films.  From 2005-2008, she served as a Visual Effects Producer on several films, including Apocalypto.  Kim then spent five years at Pixar Animation Studios, where she led the creation of a new division at the studio and produced 13 short films.  Transitioning into VR in 2014, she joined the leadership team at Google Spotlight Stories, where she produced two short films.  In 2016-2017, Kim served as Head of Production for Emmy Award-winning Oculus Story Studios. Kim is currently a principal at Source Consulting, where she works with cutting edge technology and entertainment clients.

Company presentation: –

About the lecture

A base camp to explore the future

About the speaker

First name / last name: Walter Baets
Title: Dean & Head of Education
Name of the company: thecamp
Website of the company: www.thecamp.fr

Speaker biography: Walter Baets is Dean at “the camp” in Aix-en-Provence (F), a purpose built transformation, disruption and innovation campus. Before he was Dean/Director of the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town and the Allan Gray Chair in Values Based Leadership. He graduated in econometrics and operations research at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. After a corporate career in financial modeling and strategic consulting, he obtained a PhD (at Warwick Business School) and a Senior Doctorate (HDR, Aix-Marseille). His key publications include Complexity, Organisations and Learning: A Quantum Interpretation Of Business (Routledge, 2006), Rethinking Growth: Social intrapreneurship for sustainable performance (Palgrave, 2009 co-author Erna Oldenboom) and Values Based Leadership in Business Model Innovation (Bookboon, 2013, co-author Erna Oldenboom). He is the Past Chair of the Association of African Business Schools (AABS).

Company presentation: Taking its inspiration directly from American universities, think/do tanks and fab labs, thecamp is a laboratory of the future dedicated to emerging technologies (VR, robotics, AI, biotechnology) and new practices (collective intelligence, sustainable economic models, shared governance …).
Pre-launched last September, thecamp is a base camp for exploring a positive future. The fruit of a public/private partnership, thecamp is located in Aix-en-Provence, a hybrid “third place” set down in natural surroundings, with an ambition of accelerating the invention of tomorrow’s world by bringing innovation stakeholders together to serve a common, civic and responsible goal.

About the lecture

Opening Words
Abstract of the lecture: Jean-Michel Blottière, President, Games for Change Europe, Walter Baets, Dean & Head of Education, The Camp, and André Zollinger, Head of International Development, The Camp, will open the VR-MR-AR For Impact Seminar, describe the structure of the event, and explain why The Camp and Games for Change Europe joined forces to create one of the most intense two-days seminar dedicated to VR-MR-AR for Impact ever conceived.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Jean-Michel Blottière
Title: President
Name of the company: Games for Change Europe
Website of the company: www.g4ceurope.eu

Speaker biography: Jean-Michel Blottière is a pioneer in the field of new technologies. After preparing ENS Ulm – a French grande école (higher education establishment outside the framework of the public university system), he created TILT, the very first magazine dedicated to Videogames in Europe (1982), and PixiFoly, the first TV Show to plunge audiences into virtual worlds (1983). Since then, he has been Editor in chief of magazines such as Consoles + or PC Review. He has produced and hosted TV Shows (Pixifoly, Microkids, the Night of Videogames…). As Editorial Consultant for all of Canal+’s « new programs”, he was involved in the creation of such groundbreaking programs as Cyberflash, Cyberculture and Le Deuxième Monde (8 years before Second Life!). He has been leading prestigious Festivals and Conferences in Europe (Imagina, FMX, Videogame Economics Forum…). He is the President of Games for Change Europe, and CEO of NX Publishing – The NeXt Media Specialists – a communication company specialized in the field of VFX, Animation, Videogames, VR-MR-AR, and Transmedia.

Company presentation: Founded in 2004, Games for Change empowers game creators and social innovators to drive real-world change using games that help people to learn, improve their communities, and contribute to make the world a better place. Founded in 2013, Games for Change Europe helps support and increase the growing interest in social impact games throughout Europe. Therefore we frequently showcase best practices to the European public and discuss the potential of the medium with companies, organisations and governments. With our partners from games academia and industry, we have access to leading expertise and technology to help leverage entertaining games with non-entertainment goals and transform them into a compelling and convincing communication tool. Furthermore, we help find business opportunities for direct investment into new projects and incubate games to strengthen the role of European Game Developers in the emerging international markets.

About the presentation

Representing the Pain of Others
One of the curious features of modern life is that it supplies countless opportunities to engage with the horrors taking place throughout the world. Images of atrocities have become commonplace via the small screens of the television and the computer, and the even smaller screens of mobile phones. But are viewers inured to action by the depiction of cruelty? Or are they incited? Is the viewer’s perception of reality eroded by the daily barrage of such images? What does it mean to care about the sufferings of people in faraway zones of conflict? This talk explores how VR, with its newfound immersive capabilities, can represent and shape our relationship to the pain of others.

About the workshop

Masterclass on building for empathy and presence in VR/AR
The workshop will dissect in detail the workflow, challenges and impact of Clouds Over Sidra and The Last Goodbye.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Gabo Arora
Title: Filmmaker & Creative Director
Name of the company: LightShed
Website of the company: www.lightshed.io

Speaker biography: Gabo Arora is an award-winning filmmaker and Founder & Creative Director of LightShed, a virtual reality and social impact start-up. Formerly, he was a senior policy advisor and the UN’s first-ever Creative Director, with over 15 years of humanitarian field experience, and has directed, produced and pioneered a series of widely acclaimed virtual reality documentaries (Clouds Over Sidra, Waves of Grace, My Mother’s Wing, amongst others) for the United Nations that have all premiered at major film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance and Tribeca, featured at the World Economic Forum in Davos, screened at the White House, and have exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art’s inaugural program on immersive storytelling.His latest VR experience, “The Last Goodbye”, commissioned by Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation, world premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to wide acclaim with the LA times calling it “game changing” and “transcending all the typical barriers of rectangular cinema. » It had its international premiere as an official selection at the 74th Venice Film Festival in Italy.Gabo is currently an advisor at the New Frontiers Lab at the Sundance institute, designed and mentors Facebook / Oculus’ VR for Good program, founded and launched HTC’s 10 million dollar VR impact fund in support of the UN’s development goals and manages a VR/AR portfolio for UNICEF’s first-ever venture fund.Gabo Arora is also a professor at Johns Hopkins University where he has designed and will launch, in January 2018, an M.A. concentration on Immersive Storytelling and Emerging Technology (ISET) in the graduate film and media studies program.A native New Yorker, Gabo also holds honors degrees with distinction from NYU and Johns Hopkins University. He is a Davos World Economic Forum Arts and Cultural leader and was nominated for a term-membership at the Council on Foreign Relations by Francis Fukuyama. His work as been nominated for an Emmy, awarded a Cannes Lions, a Sheffield Doc/Fest award for best documentary and has been featured in the New Yorker, the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine, Fast Company, New York Times and covered widely in the Guardian, BBC, Vice News, Wired, TED, NPR and PBS Newshour.

Company presentation: LightShed uses the power of VR and AR for Social Impact.

About the presentation

Development Challenges in VR
Developing for a VR audience changes the rules. The skills that you have learned as a developer are still applicable, but you’ll need to adapt them to the new reality of player controlled experiences. Cameras, lighting, player attention, audio, pacing, testing, and player movement are all funhouse mirror versions of what you know. We’ll discuss the challenges and possible approaches that shape how you’ll develop your experience for VR.

About the workshop

Making your VR Project a Reality
Kim Adams, David Bowman, (and Rachid??) will co-host a workshop where we discuss the kinds of projects best suited for VR / immersive formats.  Participants can bring their projects and proposals and we will help take them to the next level.  We will provide practical feedback on challenges and possible solutions.  For example, helping to define the biggest creative and technical challenges, the kind of team needed to execute the experience, which platforms would be best suited for the project, etc.

About the speaker

First name / last name: David Bowman
Title: VP of Production
Name of the company: Telltale
Website of the company: www.Telltale.com

Speaker biography: David Bowman joined Telltale in 2016, bringing a wealth of experience to his role as VP of Production. He is responsible for production of all projects developed at Telltale. Prior to joining Telltale, David worked in varied roles at Bungie, Turbine, Artifact Entertainment, Certain Affinity, Burst Online, and Crytek.

Company presentation: Telltale Games is the leading and award-winning independent developer and publisher of games for every major interactive platform and is the pioneer of the episodic delivery of digital gaming content. By successfully developing games as an episodic series and frequently releasing in the format of a game season, they create longer consumer engagement than traditional games. Founded in 2004 by games industry veterans Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner, Telltale quickly became the industry leaderin narrative gaming earning numerous honors and awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, the IMGA, SXSW and more, as well as being named Studio of the Year across multiple years. 2012’s The Walking Dead cemented Telltale Games reputation for quality, defined a new genre of playable narrative games and went on to win over 100 « Game of the Year » awards. Telltale Games is a fully licensed third party publisher on all home consoles from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Telltale Games also publishes games on the PC, Mac, iOS, and Android-based platforms. For more information visit www.telltale.com.

About the presentation

Robotics and the law: the challenges of regulating “embodied AI”
Regulating “embodied AI” is challenging and will strain the European legal system. Shall we accord robots legal personality? Shall we consider them as the “new slaves” – the robot being a sort of “legal hybrid” in the summa divisio between humans and “things”? Can an embodied AI hold copyright on its work? Can a robot be considered liable? How should the law deal with “technically augmented humans”? The European Parliament is already dealing with these issues. The initial regulatory decisions will be crucial, as it will be difficult to change regulatory course once decided. We will briefly review the main issues and where we currently stand.

About the workshop

« Embodied VR », Legal Issues

About the speaker

First name / last name: Mireille Buydens
Title: Prof. Dr., Partner
Name of the company: Janson
Website of the company: www.janson.be

Speaker biography: Mireille Buydens heads the Intellectual Property and IT Practice at Janson. She is member of the Brussels and Paris bar. She ranks amongst the leading IP lawyers and regularly acts for international chemical companies, as well as major multinationals in the IT sector. Mireille is a professor at the University of Brussels, where she teaches IP and information law. She has a Master in Law from the University of Brussels (ULB 1986), a Master in Economics and the Law (ULB 1987) as well as a master in Philosophy (ULB 1988). She also holds a Ph.D. in Law (ULB and Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb 1992) and a Ph.D. in Philosophy (ULB 1994).

Company presentation: Janson is a Brussels-based business law firm with more than 90 specialized lawyers. Janson is part o a worldwide network of law firms.The firm assists companies as well as public authorities, funds and (international) non-profit associations, with a special focus on IP/IT.

About the presentation

VR beyond empathy

About the workshop

No tech for tech’s sake: building purposeful AR/MR/VR experiences

About the speaker

First name / last name: Luciana Carvalho Se
Title: Business development & partnerships
Name of the company: REWIND
Website of the company: http://rewind.co/

Speaker biography: Learner, maker, systems thinker, innovator and tech evangelist, Luciana heads new business & partnerships for REWIND – an international award-winning immersive content studio – and is a co-founder of Unfold Inclusion, a social enterprise powering women/diversity in XR in the UK. Passionate about VR/AR/tech for good, she carries ongoing research on the possibilities and challenges immersive tech presents as re neuroscience, empathy and female empowerment.

Company presentation: REWIND fuses bleeding-edge technology with award-winning creative storytelling. By delivering immersive experiences for the world’s largest studios, agencies and brands, REWIND leads the way in innovative content creation. The team combines its deep-rooted heritage in VFX and CGI production, with an industry-defining approach to VR, AR, MR and experiential marketing. REWIND works closely as an approved developer with Oculus, HTC, Sony, Samsung, Google, FOVE and Microsoft HoloLens.

About the presentation

A videogame developer view on impact
Since its beginning, the games industry has learned how to engage players with best practices that have been adapted and improved every time a new platform became available. More recently, digital games potential to have an impact in several fields became evident with few success stories. Being a developer with 15 years of experience on commercial games who decided to change and created a nonprofit organization, Francesco will share his vision and his experience on how digital games can be used for impact.

About the workshop

My project will fail because…
A student will pitch their project in front of other students and mentors. The audience will challenge his/project trying to identify key issues/risks that may cause the project to fail. Together we propose actions to avoid or mitigate the issues/risks.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Francesco Cavallari
Title: Founder & President
Name of the company: Video Games Without Borders
Website of the company: http://vgwb.org

Speaker biography: Francesco is a games industry veteran having held both technical and leadership positions at Ubisoft, one the world’s largest video games producing companies. At Ubisoft, he took part to the development of all sort of games, including critically acclaimed titles and casual blockbusters, until 2014 when he decided to quit when he was Production Director of Ubisoft Barcelona. In 2015 he founded Video Games Without Borders and he is now full-time dedicated to oversee its operations.As part of the first VGWB project he spent 6 months in Africa (Burkina Faso) to teach and develop a video game with local talents. More recently, Francesco supervised the development of Antura and the Letters, winner of EduApp4Syria international competition.

Company presentation: Video Games Without Borders (or VGWB) is a nonprofit organization and a global community of people that believe in digital games to change the world for better. In partnership with institutions, private companies and NGOs, VGWB develops and distributes games for impact: directly improving lives (mainly about health and education), raising awareness about sensitive topics or fundraising for other NGOs. The first game was published at the beginning of 2017: Antura and the Letters, a smartphone game to improve literacy among Syrian children that are out-of-school because of the conflict, winner of EduApp4Syria international competition.

About the presentation

TheVR Ego, The Empowering Nature of VR
Daffy London will discuss the empowering nature of VR through his most recent works. In Avengers he discusses the self. Using suggestion to enable people to step outside of themselves to not only look like a new persona, but to feel different to. In extension, he will then discuss the broader implications of this using examples of his new piece I AM A ROBOT, a social VR experiement which premiered at SIGGRAPH 2017, sponsored by Future Reality Lab, NYU, Professor Ken Perlin, Connor DeFanti, Wenbo Lan.

About the workshop

Seeking a New Self
Daffy (with Igal Nassima) will be available to discuss his findings during his time with Ken Perlin and NYU on his journey towards making I AM A ROBOT. How he pushed just under a 1000 people through a single experience without it stopping, showing the impact the experience had on its participants, and looking at new ways to keep encouraging positivity and self discovery in this increasingly  isolated world of VR.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Daffy London
Title: VR Director
Name of the company: Daffy London
Website of the company: http://www.daffy.london

Speaker biography: Nomadic director DAFFY LONDON with firm roots in VFX is now immersed in the pioneering world of Virtual Reality. Over a 20 year VFX career, he and his various teams across the globe have accumulated over 30 international awards. As a director he has produced work for music, art and fashion. Namely Louis Vuitton’s Menswear SS show 2013. and having completed work for the award winning AVENGERS VR experience, his studio looks at new VR frontiers, bridging gaps between high-end effects with subject matters as diverse as space junk, chess, cleaner oceans and homoerotica. He has just become the Creative Director for the Tom of Finland Foundation.

Company presentation: Daffy London is an umbrella company created to house all of Daffy’s creative endeavors in his various mixed industries. With a strong bias in VR, AR and MR, fashion meets music meets art, with imminent projects such as I AM A ROBOT, a social VR experiment. ROOK, an AR chess game adopting Apples ARkit and GIFBOX.TV a collection of gifs which stream live 14/7 and was launched this month.

About the presentation

Once Upon a Time in Silicon Valley
Are the latest technologies altering the nature of story-telling? VR, AR, MR, 360 and developing and adaptive canvases offer those who want to tell stories a new canvas in which to create on. Real-time game engines, bespoke tools, known and developing ever-advancing platforms have an instant, global reach and appeal.  Karen will discuss how her team balances the desire to innovate with the anchor of time-honored make-me-care story-telling craft.

About the workshop

Tell a story in 360? I dare you.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Karen Dufilho
Title: Executive Producer
Name of the company: Google
Website of the company: www.google.com

Speaker biography: As Executive Producer at Google Spotlight Stories, Karen Dufilho was instrumental in introducing immersive, narrative original content at Google. A key contributor to the creation of the group and its mandate, Karen is responsible for engaging and shepherding talent and content from development through production and multi-platform launch and distribution, resulting in a body of original, award-winning, creator-driven stories that explore new questions of story-teller and audience. Karens accolades include an Emmy, a Peabody-Facebook, a Silver Cannes Lions, several Annie Awards, and two Oscars.

About the lecture

View-Driven Interactive Storytelling for 360 & VR
Concepts and techniques explored by the Google Spotlight Stories team for creating high quality immersive and interactive short films.

About the workshop

How to craft a multi-platform immersive story; from Theatrical to 360, VR and AR
Walk-through the different platforms and outlets for immersive content, and how to target the largest possible audience, while maintaining high quality experiences.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Rachid / El Guerrab
Title: Director of Engineering
Name of the company: Google
Website of the company: https://atap.google.com/spotlight-stories/

Speaker biography:
Rachid El Guerrab is the Technical Project Lead for Google Spotlight Stories at ATAP/Google, where he specializes in immersive and interactive storytelling for mobile and VR.
Prior to his company being acquired by Motorola Mobility, he was president of technology and co-founder of Human Engines Inc, focused on graphics engines and tools for mobile.
Rachid had spent over 16 years creating award-winning rendering and interactive pipelines for every SONY console since the PlayStation, as well as Nintendo and Microsoft game systems, and has held leadership positions at numerous companies including Qualcomm, Ready at Dawn, Midway and Ubisoft.

Company presentation:
Google Spotlight Stories means storytelling for VR. We are artists and technologists making immersive stories for mobile 360, mobile VR and room-scale VR headsets, and
building the innovative tech that makes it possible.

About the presentation

Neuroscience, VR, and Social Impact
The fields of Neuroscience and VR/AR/MR are mutually supportive.  Neuroscience informs VR developers in how to most effectively create a sense of presences, and VR provides a new tool for medicine to treat a variety of cognitive disorders.  This talk will delve into that relationship, and show how Neuroscience can improve VR quality as well as create deeper emotional resonance to improve empathy and spur social impact.

About the workshop

Avoiding Design Disasters
There is a huge amount of material to learn and master to become a great game designer, and doing so with a game that aspires to do more than entertain, and do it in VR add new levels of complexity, akin to learning to not just qualify to fly a small plane, but aiming to be a test pilot for NASA.  However, there are many surprisingly similar common mistakes that novice game designers tend to make when tackling a serious game/game for change/game for health, etc.  This workshop will focus on how to avoid the worst of those mistakes, and although you may not learn how to fly like a master pilot, I hope I can at least help you avoid crashing on the taxiway!

About the speaker

First name / last name: Noah FALSTEIN
Title: Founder
Name of the company: The Inspiracy
Website of the company: www.theinspiracy.com

Speaker biography: Noah Falstein has been a professional game developer since 1980, and was one of the first ten employees at LucasArts Entertainment, The 3DO Company, and Dreamworks Interactive, before running his freelance design firm, The Inspiracy for 17 years.  Some highlights of his work include co-designing the arcade game Sinistar, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and contributing to Serious Games such as ReMission and Neuroracer.   Falstein was the first elected Chairman of the IGDA and design columnist for Game Developer magazine for 6 years.  Most recently he served as Chief Game Designer at Google from 2013 to 2017.

Company presentation: The Inspiracy is one of the longest-operating interactive design consultancies in the world.  Previous projects run the gamut from video games of all sorts and sizes to serious simulations, medical and scientific applications, to interactive storytelling.

About the presentation

The transformative power of virtual reality for mental health
Worldwide, anxiety and depression are the most prevalent mental health problems. Innovative, scalable and engaging intervention approaches that target these mental health concerns are urgently needed. We combine behavioural science, biofeedback technologies and emotionally evocative game design to develop virtual reality experiences that promote emotional health and well being. I’ll present one example: DEEP-VR is a sublime, underwater VR experience that is controlled by the player’s own breathing. The power of this embodied experience to transform emotional distress and train emotional resilience will be demonstrated with data and demonstrations.

About the workshop

An Analogue Design Process to Make Science Sticky
Whether you are designing an experience for commercial entertainment or to improve a user’s life through behavioral change, the fundamentals of successful product design remain the same.  Using a common mental health issue as our basis, this hands-on workshop will give users an overview of the core –analogue- design process PlayNice uses to integrate science, design and FUN, to develop applications that keep users coming back for more science based, improved outcomes.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Isabela Granic
Title: Professor, CEO
Name of the company: Radboud University and PlayNice Institute
Website of the company: www.gehmhlab.com

Speaker biography: Isabela Granic got her PhD at the University of Toronto in developmental psychology. She is currently Professor and Chair of the Developmental Psychopathology department at Radboud University, in the Netherlands. She is also co-founder of The PlayNice Institute, an organization that builds evidence-based games that promote emotional health and well-being for children and youth. Her research focuses on the positive effects of playing video games, including the cognitive, emotional and social benefits. By integrating clinical and developmental research with interactive media design, she is creating a suite of evidence-based games that are also commercially viable and can be widely disseminated to slash the prevalence rates of anxiety, depression and bullying in youth.

Company presentation: –

About the presentation

Game design challenges for impact game
Designing an impact game share most of the challenges than an entertainment game, plus some interesting additions. For instance: a very specific type of audience to address; the need to rationally link the gameplay to the intended impact; or the setup of a methodology to measure this impact. We will evokes these challenges, in the perspective of the versatile environment of game ecosystem.

About the workshop

About the speaker

First name / last name: Emmanuel Guardiola
Title: Game director and researcher
Name of the company: Cologne Game Lab – TH-Köln
Website of the company: http://www.colognegamelab.de/
https://www.th-koeln.de/en/homepage_26.php

Speaker biography: With expertise in game design methodologies, Professor Emmanuel Guardiola is a veteran of the video game industry with over 30 major titles released for publishers and independent studios. At Ubisoft he was one of the creators of the Game For Everyone brand, with real life benefit objectives (training games, games with a purpose, etc.). PhD in computer science, Professor Guardiola drives research on game design processes at the Cologne Game Lab – TH-Köln. His work is applied in awarded games for education and health.

Company presentation: The Cologne Game Lab (CGL), Germany, is an institute of the TH Köln (Cologne University of Applied Sciences). CGL promotes the research and development of interactive content, such as digital games, playful software application as well as interactive film and TV formats. With its undergraduate and postgraduate degree course and broad range of further education programs and workshops CGL is providing specialist training. The institute is also the organizer of the major game conference “Clash of Realities”

About the lecture

Emotional Currency: The Missing Design Element in Digital Heath
A wave of digital tools has promised to help physicians, providers and patients achieve better outcomes for a multitude of problems, yet few succeed to deliver improved outcomes.  Games, VR or any experiences must be designed for end-to-end user engagements to succeed in commercial or behavioral terms. To help designers improve the efficacy of their products, we will present an interactive design framework that brings together emotional currency, the “black arts” of commercial game design with some psychology principles.

About the workshop

An Analogue Design Process to Make Science Sticky
Whether you are designing an experience for commercial entertainment or to improve a user’s life through behavioral change, the fundamentals of successful product design remain the same.  Using a common mental health issue as our basis, this hands-on workshop will give users an overview of the core –analogue- design process PlayNice uses to integrate science, design and FUN, to develop applications that keep users coming back for more science based, improved outcomes.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Evan Hirsch
Title: COO
Name of the company: The Play Nice Institute
Website of the company: http://theplayniceinstitute.com

Speaker biography: Evan Hirsch is managing partner of Engine Co. 4, LLC a consortium of senior business, creative and technical executives providing strategic creative direction to clients in games, healthcare and research and co-founder of The PlayNice Institute. Most recently, for the American Medical Association, Evan conceived of, secured the initial $15M in funding for and launched Health2047, the AMA’s innovation lab in San Francisco.  Working with USC’s Institute for Creative Technology, he provided creative direction for their Medical VR based Military Sexual Trauma project (currently in testing at the VA) and the design of counter-terrorism training games for the US Naval Postgraduate School. Other recent clients include; The Pokemon Company, Ubisoft, and the Walt Disney Company. Previously, Evan was the Creative Director at Microsoft’s Live Labs incubation unit and also for the launch of Surface. He has held leadership roles in Visual Effects and Feature Animation studios in London and was Head of Visual Development for Electronic Arts’ Worldwide Studios. In his free time, he is a Director on the Executive Committee of ACM SIGGRAPH, and is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Company presentation: –

About the presentation

UX and Cognitive Science Applied to game Development, including VR/AR.
User experience (UX) and cognitive science are becoming trendy in the industry, but how can these disciplines concretely help a team develop and improve a video game? UX and cognitive science combined are at the service of the intended design, and can provide very concrete and easy-to-use tips to anticipate and solve problems, sometimes even before the playtesting phase.

About the workshop

UX and Cognitive Science Applied to game Development, including VR/AR.
User experience (UX) and cognitive science are becoming trendy in the industry, but how can these disciplines concretely help a team develop and improve a video game? UX and cognitive science combined are at the service of the intended design, and can provide very concrete and easy-to-use tips to anticipate and solve problems, sometimes even before the playtesting phase.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Celia Hodent
Title: –
Name of the company: –
Website of the company: celiahodent.com

Speaker biography: Celia Hodent is recognized as a leader in the application of user experience and psychology in video game design and in the development of UX strategy and process in game studios. She holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Paris Descartes-Sorbonne, France, where she specialized in cognitive development. In 2005, Celia stepped aside from academic research to work with an educational toy manufacturer, VTech, and then entered the video game industry. She has worked at Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Montreal, LucasArts, and Epic Games to help guide the studios, and their projects, toward improved user experience practices. Celia’s approach is to use cognitive science knowledge and the scientific method to concretely solve design problems and make sure the player experience is always enjoyable and engaging, while reaching business goals. Celia is also the founder and curator of the Game UX Summit, which launched in Durham, NC, in May of 2016, hosted by Epic Games. She has worked on many projects across multiple platforms (PC, console, mobile, and VR), including the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six franchise, Star Wars: 1313, Paragon, Fortnite, and Spyjinx. Celia is the author of The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX can Impact Video Game Design, published in August 2017.

About the presentation

Sound perception of space in real and virtual world
In our natural environment, 3D soundscape, we apply different modes of listening according to context and personal motivations. Augmented audio reality requires that the listener pays attention to random events and his personal ability to superimpose information. In virtual reality, immersion and localization increase the credibility of the audio or audiovisual scene. Examples of urban sound projects, interactive experiments or audio games will illustrate this presentation.

About the workshop

Attendees’ project mentoring and coaching in sound design
After presenting the main goal of their project and possible questions, discussing and giving feed backs on sound impact (functionality, style), and helping to prototype sound documents for participant’s project team.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Cecile Le Prado
Title: Professor, Composer and researcher
Name of the company: Cnam – Enjmin/ France , Cologne Game Lab – TH-Köln/ Germany
Website of the company: www.cnam-enjmin.fr, www.colognegamelab.de

Speaker biography: Electroacoustic music composer, she is particularly interested in sound space, urban soundscapes and active immersion for visitors. As a researcher in music composition, she worked mainly with the INA-GRM (Musical Group Research, National Audiovisual Institute) and IRCAM (Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic and Music). She is a member of the Computer Science Laboratory of the CNAM (CEDRIC, http://cedric.cnam.fr). where she got her PhD. Associated professor at CNAM, in charge of Sound Design for the Graduate School of Games and Interactive Media (www.enjmin.fr) and Professor of sound design at CGL (Cologne Game Lab)

Company presentation: The Graduate School of Video Games and Interactive Digital Media (Cnam-Enjmin) is one of the most renowned institutions in the field. It delivers a Master’s degree with both professional and research opportunities, an engineering and a post Master degree. It’s vocation is to provide training leading to the various professions of the game and digital industries. Cnam-Enjmin works with numerous universities and research facilities around the world and international students can enrol in its diploma courses, or come as part of a residency program. Cologne Game Lab (CGL) promotes the research and development of interactive content, such as digital games, playful software applications as well as interactive film and TV formats. By constantly challenging the creative responses towards authorship, audiovisual design and development, CGL is bridging the gap between interactive art, entertainment and learning.

About the presentation

Exploration of the business ecosystem for VR-AR-MR
Presenting the various actors of the VR/AR/MR markets and the multiple fields of applications for industry and services, I will discuss the market evolution, the current forecasts, the possible future developments, as well as the ongoing market structure disruption. I will especially explore the role of several economic factors like crowfunding, user centricity and UX (User Experience) as sources of growth for VR-AR and MR.

About the workshop

Refining your mission statement and target group
Knowing precisely your user and having a clear mission statement directly impacts your game design and overall project evolution. In this workshop, the participants will develop, practice and review the mission statement of their project. We will also apply simple methods to discuss and precise their target group.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Odile Limpach
Title: Prof.
Name of the company: Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln, Technical Universty of Cologne
Website of the company: www.colognegamelab.de

Speaker biography: Professor Odile Limpach teaches Economics, entrepreneurship and project management at the Cologne Game Lab, Technical University of Cologne. She is also co-founder of the SpielFabrique, a French-German Accelerator for videogame companies. She works as Strategic Consultant for cross-media projects and act as the partner for Germany at Game 4 Change Europe.

Between 2007 and 2014, she was the managing director at the German entertainment software studio Blue Byte. Before she was the managing director of Ubisoft GmbH. She graduated from ICN business school in France and completed her MBA in the USA. Odile Limpach is also involved as a volunteer in the areas of vocational training and media development. Furthermore, she acts as an advisor (CCEF) for the French Ministry for International Business Development.

Company presentation: Cologne Game Lab (CGL) promotes the research and development of interactive content, such as digital games, playful software applications as well as interactive film and TV formats. By constantly challenging the creative responses towards authorship, audiovisual design and development, CGL is bridging the gap between interactive art, entertainment and learning.

With its undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses and broad range of further education programs and workshops CGL is providing specialist training for current and future gaming industry professionals.

CGL aims to shape public opinion about games in a positive way. By hosting public events and expert conferences, CGL discusses crucial and controversial games topics, making them available to the public and thus fostering a dialogue across target groups.

About the presentation

Blind Dates to Museum of Sex – Pushing the boundaries of multi user room scale VR Experiences.
Superbright have been leveraging game engines and VR combined with motion capture systems and haptics to create unique installation experiences. In this presentation I will be sharing the process behind our latest projects – Virtually Dating for Facebook/Conde Nast Studios and Diplo VR Experience for the Museum of Sex. We will be discussing content creation techniques, technology platforms for Social VR, their potentials and limitations.

About the workshop

Seeking a New Self
Igal (with Andrew Daffy) will be available to discuss his findings during his time with Ken Perlin and NYU on his journey towards making I AM A ROBOT (sponsored by Future Reality Lab, NYU, Professor Ken Perlin, Connor DeFanti, Wenbo Lan.). How he pushed just under a 1000 people through a single experience without it stopping, showing the impact the experience had on its participants, and looking at new ways to keep encouraging positivity and self discovery in this increasingly  isolated world of VR.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Igal Nassima
Title: Founder / Head of Engineering
Name of the company: Superbright
Website of the company: Superbright.me

Speaker biography: Igal Nassima is a programmer and artist from Istanbul, Turkey. His work focuses on creating socially networked environments for communities.  He founded 319 Scholes, an experimental technology space in 2009 and is a co-creator of MyBlockNYC, an interactive mapping website that captures personal video accounts of New York City’s life and culture, which was included in MoMA’sTalk To Me exhibition in 2011.

Company presentation: Superbright is a creative technology studio that makes AR, VR, and Physical Computing experiences as thought-provoking as they are practical. Our studio in Bushwick also provides an interdisciplinary hacker-space in which artists and developers combine product development, commissioned client work, and ongoing residencies to form a holistic perspective on these nascent tools and their future application.Our brand work leverages the sophistication of the artistic dialog,telling industry stories not only through a new experiential dimension but also through a critical social lens.

About the keynote

Political Games at Enjmin
We first present a quick overview of political games in general, and then we present the story of political games at Enjmin. This story kind by related on one way to the story of the game industry and on the other way to the evolution of the political engagement of young students in France during the last sixteen years.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Stephane Natkin
Title: Professor at CNAM, director of the IT department and Enjmin
Name of the company: Cnam
Website of the company: www.cnam-enjmin.fr

Speaker biography: Stéphane Natkin is professor and the director the IT department of the CNAM (www.cnam.fr) in Paris. He is the founder and the director of the Graduate School on Games and Interactive Media (ENJMIN www.enjmin.fr) and the Mobility Interaction and Media group in the Research Laboratory CEDRIC (http://cedric.cnam.fr), He is also a member of the board and vice president in charge of universities and research laboratories of the Paris Digital Contents Cluster, Cap Digital (www.capdigital.com). He works in the field multimedia systems, video games and both from the research and the industrial point of view. He is the author of numerous scientific publications in these fields. He was the founder of a security software editor CESIR and the manager of « La Galerie Natkin-Berta », an art gallery presenting modern paintings, sculpture and electronic art. He is the author of the book « Internet Security Protocols » DUNOD 2001 « Video Games and Interactive Media, A Glimpse at New Digital Entertainment », AK Peters, 2006. He is also the producer and one of the designers of the book « Sol LeWitt Black Gouaches ».

Company presentation: The Cnam  (www.cnam.fr) is a very unique French institution of long-standing and deep scientific tradition. It is supervised by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.  The Cnam has been entrusted with 3 closely interconnected missions: Life long education, Research and Innovation, Scientific and technical Knowledge. It is the first operator in professional adult education and training by learning in higher education in France and Europe.

About the presentation

From the Ice Cap to the Trading Floor: Immersive Journalism using VR and AR
New technologies are allowing journalists to tell important stories in ways never before possible. Formats like volumetric VR can make users feel “present” on scene, while new methods of data capture, such as photogrammetry and volumetric video capture, enable locations and protagonists to be recreated with an astonishing degree of realism. The presentation examines both the power of this new medium as well as some of the challenges—practical and ethical—that it represents.

About the workshop

Everything You Didn’t Know About Making VR Documentaries But Were Afraid to Ask
A workshop covering the essential aspects of VR journalism, from financing to technology to creative vision. The workshop will address the practical, technical, and creative challenges behind producing award-winning content for partners like PBS Frontline, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The World Economic Forum, and more. Topics addressed will include financing; new techniques such as photogrammetry and volumetric video capture; creative solutions for achieving high quality results on limited budgets; and ethical questions raised by the practice of VR journalism.

About the speaker

First name / last name: James Pallot
Title: Co-Founder
Name of the company: Emblematic Group
Website of the company: emblematicgroup.com

Speaker biography: Jamie Pallot is a co-founder of Emblematic Group, pioneering producers of virtual and augmented reality. He was formerly Editorial Director of Condé Nast Digital, where he won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence overseeing web sites including Style.com and Epicurious. He has led major digital initiatives at Time Inc., Microsoft, and NewsCorp, and is a former Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair.

Company presentation: Founded by Nonny de la Peña, Emblematic Group is one of the world’s leading producers of virtual and augmented reality. The company’s work has been shown at the Sundance, Tribeca, and SXSW festivals, with clients and partners including PBS Frontline, Google, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

About the lecture

Visible Impact from Digital Realities: The VR for Change Initiative
As some pioneers in the VR/MR/AR space choose to shape worlds beyond our imagination, others work diligently to command these new technologies to make a difference in the physical world around us. Join Games for Change President Susanna Pollack for a discussion on the ways in which the VR for Change initiative is empowering community members to expand the intersection between technology and real-world change as well as take a closer look at the types of impact already achieved by some experiences in this exciting new field.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Susanna Pollack
Title: President
Name of the company: Games for Change
Website of the company: www.gamesforchange.org

Speaker biography: Susanna Pollack is the President of Games for Change, the leading global advocate for the power of games as drivers of social impact.  In her role there, she produces the annual Games for Change Festival, the largest gaming event in New York, dubbed by national media as “the Sundance of video games.” In 2017, Susanna launched VR for Change, a new year-round initiative powered by Games for Change that seeks to unify developers, storytellers, researchers, technology companies and users to create experiences that have a shared mission to improve people’s lives.  The first-ever VR for Change Summit  was held  at the 14th  annual Games for Change Festival.  This event focused on advancing virtual technologies for positive social change, bringing together developers, artists, storytellers, journalists, researchers, activists and policymakers for dialogue, connections, debate, and new initiatives to advance the field.

Company presentation: Founded in 2004, G4C facilitates the creation and distribution of social impact games that serve as powerful tools in humanitarian and educational efforts. We bring together organizations and individuals to grow the field, incubate new projects and provide an open forum for the exchange of ideas and resources. G4C specializes in uniting funders, content specialists, gaming experts, and creative teams to create successful and sustainable game titles and game programs.

About the presentation

Evolving Realities
As a technologist and someone interested in developing tools that are making it easier for anybody to create content for film, television and VR, I will talk about the latest bricks of technologies that were developed in all 3 fields (AR, VR, MR) and consider what we should be doing next in order to make these technologies easier for people to use.

About the workshop

VR or AR: what can we create today with just a smartphone and nothing else?
Let’s be practical and consider what would be the minimum equipment required to create content for VR or AR: what can we create today with just a smartphone and nothing else?

About the speaker

First name / last name: Jean-Colas Prunier
Title: Product Architect, Founder
Name of the company: FairyTool
Website of the company: www.fairytool.com

Speaker biography: Jean-Colas Prunier, founder of FairyTool, has over 20 years experience in the digital animation and special effects industry. He has worked at ILM and Weta Digital on more than 20 films in total, including five Academy Awards-winning films (for best visual effects). For the past 3 years, Jean-Colas has been working on the development of FilmEngine, a real-time film-based software based on the CryEngine video game engine. He is one of the world’s experts on the subject.

Company presentation: FairyTool is a startup created in July 2017. Its mission is to develop innovative technological solutions for the creation of digital content (3D animation) for cinema, television, virtual reality and augmented reality.

About the presentation

The AI Cambrian Explosion and its impact on VR, AR, MR and DR – ‘Delusional Reality’
The AI-« Cambrian Explosion »  is a good metaphor of the current «  inflection point » in Artificial Intelligence developments. In particular, this implies far-reaching consequences on VR-, AR-, MR-based applications. Furthemore, AI-assisted generation of audio and video media and widespread AI forgery capabilities will destroy trust in the very social fabric (fake news, botched elections, fraudulent democratic process).

About the speaker

First name / last name: Philippe Quéau
Title:  CEO
Name of the company: Metaxu
Website of the company: metaxu.org

Speaker biography: Philippe Quéau is a philosopher and an international Consultant in Information, Communications, Social and Human Sciences. He is currently CEO of Metaxu.org. He began his career as a specialist in ICTs, Computer Graphic and Virtual Reality. He was instrumental in founding the Festival of Computer Graphics and Special Effects, IMAGINA, organised annually in Monte-Carlo. He then was called for an international Civil Servant career at UNESCO, where he was successively Director of the Information Society Division, UNESCO Representative in the Russian Federation, UNESCO Representative in the Maghreb, Director of the Ethics and Global Change Division and UNESCO Assistant-Director General for Social and Human Sciences. He wrote several books on ICTs, simulation, virtual reality and cyberspace from a philosophical and societal point of view.

Company presentation: Metaxu.org is an organization devoted to research and comparative analysis in cultures and religions in the era of globalization. Founded in 2015 Philippe Quéau.

About the lecture

VR/AR/MR, how we use the body as an interface to hack the brain.
Abstract of the lecture: First we will present the augmented reality installation ‘The Tree of inspirations’, created for The Camp. Afterwards we will present some other project examples that we are developing. These will show how we conceive VR/AR/MR like a holistic experience, that hacks the brain and re-appropriates the whole body as an interface for the digital presence.

About the workshop

How to create seamless experience between VR and AR ?
VR and AR experiences are not competitor but complementary, let’s imagine together what could be the kind of mechanics that associate both in a seamless experience.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Bruno Samper
Title: CEO & head of VR/AR department
Name of the company: Nedd
Website of the company: http://www.nedd.me

Speaker biography: In 1998, Bruno founded the online magazine Panoplie.org, and with many artists he explored new opportunities offered by a media still in its infancy: the Internet. In 2001 Panoplie.org became Panoplie studio, a company that developped digital interfaces and multimedia productions for cultural institutions and brands such as Kenzo, Arte, le ministère de la Culture, le Palazzo Grassi, Veuve Cliquot, Ubisoft, Lagardère or Rolex. In parallel, he also developed interactive fiction, games and persistent worlds. Thus in 2002, Bruno designed « Society », the first online game to have been acquired by the National Fund of Contemporary Art. In 2011 Panoplie Sudio became Nerd agency. In recent years Bruno has also worked on Cinema productions: in 2008 he wrote the film « The Collectress », a Franco-Lithuanian coproduction (Lithuanian film Festival Winner – Best Film in 2008), in 2012 he is both co-writer and Creative Director of the film « Vanishing Waves » (which won 21 awards worldwide, including a Méliès d’Or at the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation).

Company presentation: We imagine the brand experiences of tomorrow. Created in 2011 and based in Paris and Montpellier (France), Nedd combines the top-level experience and expertise of big agencies to the nimble and entrepreneurial culture of a creative hot shop.

About the presentation

Virtual Anarchie – A philosophical design talk about creating realities in VR and AR.
Growing societies have developed highly efficient structures and abstractions to facilitate communication and get around. With man-made media on the forefront of this, both designers and audiences of all media types today seem to be stuck in a specific rhetoric that not only manifests but reinforces our system culture. Beyond our ambition of creating thematic content to foster change,as designers it thus seems necessary to understand general structural and aesthetical mechanisms of legacy media that have been drastically limiting our capacity of acting out, thinking and even fantasizing about change on a larger scale.The session highlights the very special characteristics of VR and AR in contrast to traditional screen-based media, discusses chances and challenges of a more humane design approach as a start to developing a new mindset for designing alternative realities.

About the workshop

Attendees’ Project Mentoring & Coaching

About the speaker

First name / last name: Katharina Tillmanns
Name of the company: Cologne Game Lab at TH Köln
Website of the company: www.colognegamelab.de

Speaker biography: Katharina Tillmanns is a researcher, designer and lecturer for interactive media based in Cologne / Germany. In her studies and work, she is exploring and promoting the expressive qualities of games as a means of art and activism. A former co-president and founding member of the Games for Change Europe network, Katharina is currently focussing on her research on collaborative learning in the context of mixed reality environments at the Cologne Game Lab, an Institute for Game Development and Research at TH Koeln (University of Applied Sciences).

Company presentation: Cologne Game Lab (CGL) promotes the research and development of interactive content, such as digital games, playful software applications as well as interactive film and TV formats. By constantly challenging the creative responses towards authorship, audiovisual design and development, CGL is bridging the gap between interactive art, entertainment and learning.

About the lecture

VR/AR/MR, how we use the body as an interface to hack the brain.
Abstract of the lecture: First we will present the augmented reality installation ‘The Tree of inspirations’, created for The Camp. Afterwards we will present some other project examples that we are developing. These will show how we conceive VR/AR/MR like a holistic experience, that hacks the brain and re-appropriates the whole body as an interface for the digital presence.

About the workshop

How to create seamless experience between VR and AR ?
VR and AR experiences are not competitor but complementary, let’s imagine together what could be the kind of mechanics that associate both in a seamless experience.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Éric Viennot
Title: Creative Director
Name of the company: thecamp
Website of the company: http://thecamp.fr & ericviennot.net

Speaker biography: Eric Viennot is a french game designer. He established his reputation on creating innovative game concepts, based on strong narrative ideas and on transmedia games. Among his most famous creations, we can notice Uncle Albert’s Adventures, La boite à bidules, Missing: Since January, Evidence: The Last Ritual and Alt-Minds.

Company presentation: Since the beginning of thecamp project, Eric accompanied the founder Frédéric Chevalier. He produced thecamp corporate film and now he is in charge of the Hive, a residency of young talents.

About the presentation

VR in the Age of the 4’th Industrial Revolution
At the Davos Forum held in the last year, it was claimed that we were about to enter the 4’th industrial revolution which is characterized by the range of technologies that fuse the physical and digital worlds. If this is the case, VR-AR shall be the major component that shapes our future. In this talk, I will first present the historical context in which VR is viewed as a media. I will then argue that VR has to be the key media in the age of the 4’th industrial revolution.

About the workshop

From Cave to Virtual Reality: Reinventing the Classical VR Systems
VR has gained a lot of popularities these days. One can argue that the contemporary VR is just a digital version of human attempts to create the immersive and interactive 3D space. In this workshop, we will investigate various aspects of VR, from the technological aspect to the social aspect. We will then take some seminal VR systems, and will attempt to re-interpret and re-design by taking advantage of the recent developments.

About the speaker

First name / last name: Kwangyun / Wohn
Title: Chairperson
Name of the company: NST (National Research Council of Science and Technology of Korea)
Website of the company: www.nst.re.kr

Speaker biography: Dr. Kwangyun Wohn is currently Chairperson of the NST (National Research Council of Science and Technology) of Korea. Previously, he was Professor Emeritus and Founding Dean of the GSCT (Graduate School of Culture Technology) at KAIST (Korea Institute of Science and Technology) in Korea. Before joining the KAIST, he has started his academic career at Harvard University (USA) as Lecturer, and at University of Pennsylvania (USA) as Assistant Professor. Having returned back to his home country, Korea, he had been with Computer Science Department for fifteen years, until he established a new graduate school, Graduate School of Culture Technology (GSCT) in 2005. Major activities and accomplishments include: Director of Virtual Reality Research Center which is a national center of research excellence, Founding President of Korean Society of Human-Computer Interaction, Founding President of Korean Society of Performing Art, and Editorial Board of British Computer Society. While his research interests span a broad range of the intersection between art and science – from theoretical aspects to practicalities – he focuses his research efforts to the application of VR to various cultural artifacts such as stage performances, museum exhibitions and entertainment contents.

Company presentation: NST was established on June 30, 2014, in order to support and foster its 25 GRIs (Government-funded research institutes), to compose an ecosystem for convergence of R&D and to build up a global cooperation system. NST and its 25 GRIs aim at improving the quality of life through scientific solutions to various issues at the international, national, and societal levels, with a commitment to supporting and advancing the needs of leading research institutions.

About the lecture

A base camp to explore the future

About the speaker

First name / last name: André Zollinger
Title: Director of International Relations
Name of the company: thecamp
Website of the company: thecamp.fr

Speaker biographie: André Zollinger is the director of International Relations at thecamp. Prior to joining thecamp, André was a Political and Economic Advisor to the U.S. Consul-General in Marseille, where he built and expanded a French-American network of entrepreneurs and investors focused on positive impact and civic tech. Previously, he worked as a consultant for the European Commission on the EU Ecolabel, and was Country Manager for General Electric Wind in Brazil.
André is a graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in Political Economy of Latin America. As a student, he participated in the filming of a documentary in the Amazon rainforest, performed with several bands as keyboardist, and organized a photography exhibit on Dubai. He is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. 

Company presentation: Taking its inspiration directly from American universities, think/do tanks and fab labs, thecamp is a laboratory of the future dedicated to emerging technologies (VR, robotics, AI, biotechnology) and new practices (collective intelligence, sustainable economic models, shared governance …).
Pre-launched last September, thecamp is a base camp for exploring a positive future. The fruit of a public/private partnership, thecamp is located in Aix-en-Provence, a hybrid « third place » set down in natural surroundings, with an ambition of accelerating the invention of tomorrow’s world by bringing innovation stakeholders together to serve a common, civic and responsible goal.