On March 21 the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA) hosted the visiting teams of deputy Meindert Stolk of the South-Holland province and Rotterdam alderman Faouzi Achbar for a session on the societal impact of immersive technologies in the Erasmus Data Collaboratory. The discussion centered on how the responsible use of these technologies offers opportunities within research and education, how they can foster inclusion and support innovative collaborations between academia and the outside world.
Engagement for inclusion and diversity
Diverse experts within the XR-human interaction realm gave insightful talks. Among them were: Marcel van Oosterhout, Deputy Executive Director of ECDA; Yvonne van Everdingen, Professor Marketing and Innovation at Rotterdam School of Management; Astrid Manden-Bekkers, innovation manager at Erasmus Research Services;and Ilyaz Nasrullah, quartermaster in the development of SHINe. Founders of three impactful Rotterdam based startups and scaleups showecased their inspiring use cases and during the Q&A dived deeper into the social impact created.
Mao Lin Liao from Reblika, discussed the importance of the use of synthetic data for diversity and to stimulate non biased algorithmic use and explained why millenials and gen Z are massively following virtual influencers. Jan Verwoerd from 360 Fabriek, dicussed the scanning of objects for 3D digital use and explained how AR can create inclusion around for example understanding cultural heritage. Martijn van Schaik from Metaseum, explained how museums make their collections come to live within the metaverse. Key to all examples was the importance of engagment with the public; with customers, students, employees, or citizens. Through interactive, immersive experiences fostering self-discovery, new innovative opprotunities for learning, communications and awareness creation arise.
Experiencing the impact of immersive tech
After the plenary part the teams had the opportunity to continue their working visit in the Immersive Tech Space and try out the diverse immersive technologies and experience their impact themselves. Here, they could talk to “Digiderius Erasmus” the avatar of Desiderius Erasmus, try out the André Kuipers space experience to see the effect of climate change on our planet, and engage in VR and AR applications. The immersive tech space also hosts a holography room, where teams can simultaneously work together by using 3D images of cities, products or organs with holographics technology by Tekle holographic.
Meindert Stolk, deputy member for Economy and Innovation: "Experiencing Immersive Tech through VR glasses is really very special. During the visit, I did part of a fire brigade training and it was really very special how realistic such a training is then. It did become clear to me that Immersive Tech can be of great value for training, healthcare and entertainment."
The Immersive Tech Space at EUR; where data comes to life
The Immersive Tech Space is initiated and realized by the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics, ErasmusX, and researchers from various faculties of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Various EUR and Convergence initiatives around data, AI and immersive tech will be supported here, like for example the Erasmian Language Model (LLM) and education for the Deepcell project. It is part of the Erasmus Data Collaboratory and situated in the Polak building on the EUR Woudestein campus. The Data Collaboratory is one of the Houses of AI, as initiated and supported by the Convergence of Universities. This hub is an innovative home for initiatives around data, AI and Immersive technologies at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. For more information see: https://ecda.eur.nl/immersive-tech-space/
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Marta Stachowiak-de Wit; Head of Marketing & Communications at Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics: stachowiak@rsm.nl
Jos van Dongen, Director Erasmus Data Collaboratory at Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics