Samsung Biologics will provide Kurma Partners with manufacturing, development, and de-risking services for biologics.

Samsung Biologics strikes manufacturing and development deal with Kurma

Samsung Biologics, Kurma Partners enter strategic partnership for development & manufacturing of biologics for Kurma’s portfolio companies: Incheon, South Korea Wednesday, Octob

Samsung Biologics, Kurma Partners enter strategic partnership for development & manufacturing of biologics for Kurma’s portfolio companies

Recorded Q3'23 consolidated revenue of KRW 1,034 billionRecorded Q3'23 consolidated operating profit of KRW 319 billionAchieved record-high

Samsung Biologics reports third quarter 2023 financial results

Samsung Biologics Co., the biotech arm of South Korea's Samsung Group, on Wednesday reported its third-quarter net profit jumped 86 percent from a year earlier, helped by long-term contracts with big pharmaceutical firms.

(LEAD) Samsung Biologics Q3 profit jumps 86 pct

Samsung Biologics has entered into a collaboration with Kurma Partners to develop biologics for Kurma's portfolio companies.

Samsung Biologics and Kurma collaborate for biologics development

Collaboration to focus on biologics of Kurma’s portfolio companies.

Samsung Biologics, Kurma Partners Strike Development and Manufacturing Deal

Samsung Biologics said Tuesday it inked a partnership with Kurma Partners, a French venture capital firm specializing in financing health care companies, to offer a variety of drug-related services to Kurma Partners' portfolio companies.

Samsung Biologics to offer solutions for Kurma Partners' portfolio firms

Samsung Biologics (KRX: 207940.KS), a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), and Kurma Partners, a European venture capital firm in healthcare and biotechnology, today announced a strategic partnership for the development and manufacturing of biologics for Kurma Partners' portfolio companies.

Samsung Biologics and Kurma Partners announce strategic partnership for development and manufacturing of biologics for Kurma's portfolio companies

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Samsung, Kurma Partner on Biologics for Kurma's Portfolio Companies

Samsung Biologics has been increasing its manufacturing capacity as demand for CDMOs has been soaring in recent years. Over the last 12 years, Samsung Biologics has added new plants in its first Bio Campus and now operates a total of four biomanufacturing facilities. Their combined manufacturing capacity reaches 604,000 liters.

Samsung Biologics expansion ahead of schedule

Samsung Biologics Co.,Ltd. manufactures bio-healthcare products. The Company develops, refines, and distributes biopharmaceutical products.

SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS

384 Stories To Learn About Technology Trends

148 Stories To Learn About Internet Of Things

Many key healthcare industry players like Samsung, Alcatraz, Bosch, Suprema, NEC, and UiPath have all invested in building new biometric technology in order to support the healthcare industry. Although we’re still seeing fresh use cases emerge in the field of biometrics, there’s certainly the potential to is delivered to patients in the future. revolutionize how healthcare Already in industries such as finance and transport, we’re seeing the role that biometrics can play in swiftly and accurately identifying individuals and verifying their credentials. Although to imagine a future where keys and passwords will no longer be needed seems fanciful, biometric passports with fingerprint, facial, and retina recognition may soon pave the way for vastly improved security across the board. (Image: ) Research and Markets As we can see from the chart above, biometric technology has the potential to grow into a $51 billion industry by 2027, but how will this impact the world of healthcare? Let’s explore how biometrics could hold the key for revolutionizing how healthcare professionals deliver effective, secure, and accurate treatments for patients: Accurate Identification Measures As biometric technology grows, we’ve seen more businesses utilize biometric fingerprint scanners as a means of identification–particularly in the case of smartphones and in order to gain access to workplaces. These use cases have built a greater level of familiarity among users, which has seen more fingerprint scanners used within hospitals, care homes, and hospices in order to confirm the identity of both patients and staff. This form of identification works by recording a patient’s fingerprint and linking it to their medical record to verify who they are and their personal requirements instantly. The benefits of biometric identification in healthcare are vast. Firstly, it can reduce the instances of fraud by individuals claiming to be another patient in order to gain access to medication illegally–an act that per year because of patients incorrectly being allocated free prescriptions. reportedly costs the UK’s NHS £256 million Secondly, biometrics can eliminate the risk of human error in sourcing a patient’s medical history. Because their records are biometrically attached to their fingerprint, or other scans, medical records are virtually linked to their biological readings. This means that medical professionals can instantly consult records and discover whether their patients are eligible for free prescriptions, or have any important conditions to consider. Protecting Patient Privacy Biometric technology also provides a virtually impenetrable layer of patient privacy for healthcare organizations. Because they knowingly provide their biometric data, patients can provide their details on an opt-in basis and will have the choice of which organizations can access their records and for what purposes. Furthermore, the biometric details of patients can be encrypted, meaning that cybercriminals would be unable to hack into databases to steal patient data. These biological levels of encryption mean that patient medical records can remain fully private, and only accessible when biometric details are provided. Although their medical records will be stored in the cloud, electronic health records would only become accessible when a fingerprint or retina scan is completed, or when authorized medical teams with their own biometric access,  need to view them. Improving the Quality of Healthcare The implementation of biometric data throughout the healthcare sector can also help to unify clinical data by eliminating the prospect of duplicating medical records. Biometrics can also help to improve the accuracy of clinical records whilst improving the quality of . information that professionals have access to In turn, this can limit the level of incorrect treatments provided for patients–paving the way for stronger provision and quality of across the board. healthcare We’re also likely to see biometrics improve the quality of training for healthcare professionals in the future. Particularly in the field of high-risk roles like that of a surgeon, is likely to provide unparalleled experiences for professionals, with the progress in training programs linked to biometric identification like retina scans. This would empower surgeons to practice tasks on a virtual patient as if they were in a real-world operating theater. immersive training Building Bridges in the Future Naturally, many healthcare professionals will greet the introduction of biometrics with a degree of concern–much like the introduction of many revolutionary innovations. The act of identifying patients and accessing their data from biologically unique traits will alter how information is stored and protected, which will be difficult for some caregivers to familiarize themselves with. However, it’s clear that in the future, technologies like artificial and augmented intelligence will help to bridge any existing gaps that could emerge when professionals shift to biometric data and permissions. Blending AI and biometrics paves the way for hybrid technology to not only recognize and identify specific patients, but to also based on supporting characteristics like their voice, general appearance, and behavior–instilling an even greater level of accuracy in identification whilst removing the potential for healthcare fraud in a more comprehensive manner. begin learning more about patients Although we may be some years away from such a comprehensive blend of patient care, we’re already seeing the implementation of biometric technology emerge within the healthcare industry. As for where this intuitive technology can take us in the future, the sky’s the limit.

The Biometric Revolution Will Change Our Approach To Healthcare

Blockchain, DLT, voting, elections, meritocracies, AI, population density, feudal England, means of exchange, and the Post Office. No, dear reader, this isn't SEO word soup, but merely the tip of the technological iceberg of topics covered in my recent 2 hour+ conversation. Who would have the knowledge, lexicon, and patience to debate such a breadth of topics with me? It's my privilege to introduce none other than the man who, for his sins (his own words!) was responsible for chip and pin, and has been dubbed . Philip Edouard Andreae , 'The Godfather of EMV ' Nowadays, Phillip is an advocate for blockchain and DLT technology, and devotes his expert attention to working with mobile voting application specialists, . Voatz Out of respect for your time I've abbreviated and edited some of my own ramblings. Out of respect for the sheer joy I found in this conversation, the rest has been transcribed exactly as it occurred (kudos if you get the Fargo reference!). Grab a coffee and open up your wisdom-absorbing chakras, here's part one: "I’m sure your ears have been burning with the number of times Voatz has come up in my recent Blockchain and Voting articles. Just for a little background first though, could you give us an overview of who Voatz are, what you guys do, and your role?" "Well let’s break that down. Voatz are a Boston based company that started in 2014, at a hackathon at South by SouthWest: a competition looking at, and I’ll use my own words here, 'how to improve humanity'. So, , they saw blockchain, they saw distributed ledger, biometrics in mobile, and they understood cryptography from their own experience. So of course, they decided to submit a product/project as part of this classic hackathon concept we’re all familiar with, and this product was a mobile voting app. They walked away with 1 Bitcoin and $10k and an investor interview. Nimit and Simer Now, this investor told them they were going into a place they will never break into. What did they do? They decided to break into it! Went off, raised money, two rounds and we’ve currently got a third in progress. And they began piloting the technology. Piloting, maturing etc etc. As for my background, I come out of technology, and, for my sins I’m responsible for chip and pin! I was in Brussels in 1993, working with card payment systems in the United Kingdom in the early days of what that became. Then I went over to Canada and helped with migration there, then came back to the US and was involved with migration here. During that time I found myself more and more involved in cryptography, met people like , because I’d also worked for people like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, IBM, AT+G, Philips Semiconductor and others." " David Chaum Wow that’s one hell of an impressive CV!" "Well, it was during my at Oberthur Technologies when I met Nimit. He was part of a mobile payments acquisition we had done, and that was the subject matter: Payments. So I went into retirement, then came out of retirement, Nimit said ‘come and advise!’ and I joined the team as an advisor. They currently call me a senior advisor. I’m not sure it’s due to my grey hair, or my brilliant intelligence. I’ll leave that for you to decide though! " "Not sure I'm the right guy to judge anyone for intelligence or hair so maybe best left to the readers!" "Well anyone wanting to know more details can stick a dot com after my last name and find out more." "I was reading over some of your blog posts earlier as it goes, I particularly like your piece on DAOs which follows well on the recent piece I’ve done with Gerard about the GBA DAO." "I’ll check that piece out before I say anything more about it then!" "Brilliant. Rewinding a little then, something I’ve recently become aware of (thanks to my conversation with Amelia), is that in up to two-thirds of US states, distance voting is done via email accounts such as Gmail or Yahoo. This might seem a bit of a leading question, but what do you think are the main issues with this?" "Okay, let’s back up with a little bit of history and fill in the blanks. The US has a law called UOCAVA (SEBES) that requires the country to address the problems of Americans abroad wishing to vote. Each of the states figures out how they want to do that. Some of them rely on paper mail. 31 of the states allow some form of electronic return. In context of electronic return: they consider fax and email as two options. 5 of the states allow web return." "As in web portals, such as with Alaska?" "Well, Alaska is trying to figure out how to do something. Web return is what we do here at Voatz, and it’s what Amelia did in 2018 and what also West Virginia did in 2018, and it is what we promote. I beg the question, what’s the difference between email and web, given that email goes over the web? I’ve got some understanding problems, and when I look at the grey hair of politicians, I think we probably have some education problems. There is this anomaly that we can use a fax machine and send a fax of your paper marked ballot to your Local Election Official (LEO). The LEO obviously will know the telephone number from whence the fax came, so they know the identity. You’re going to have to sign the document to affirm your identity, and provide whatever Identity information that your jurisdiction requires to prove you have the right to vote and submit via fax. Email is very much the same. Again, the address is known, and you’re either scanning or taking an electronically marked ballot, and attaching it to the email and sending it back. Again, your ID is known and in both the cases of fax and email, who knows what can happen in the middle? So, in walks Nimit, why don’t we do this using a mobile application, on a secure mobile device. Rule number 1, the device must meet a certain security level, which requires that a device have an element inside called a secure element. A place where I can store secrets and perform cryptographic functions." "And are these standard on most mobile devices or do they have to be much newer models?" "Anything which has what Apple calls the secure enclave has a secure element. Samsung calls it the knox. And you’ll have to fact check me on this but I think it’s the iPhone6 and above, and Android 8 and above all have the technology. "This isn’t something which is inaccessible to everyday folk then?" "Obviously, it presents problems for people who have phones in the 8+ year old category. Feature phones and flip phones and the sort. Which, if you go to Africa, and look at older demographics, or even the type of people who wish to remain ‘off the grid’ types, they’re not going for the fancier phones so there is an issue. "Well, yeah, of course, the off the grid types are going to be an issue." "If you’re restricting your own means of communications quite intentionally, you must physically appear, and mark your ballot in person, because any other mechanism you can imagine would be on the grid, then you’ve made the decision how you shall vote." "Exactly, it’s a case of making a conscious decision with forethought." "Well that leads into my next point. We are an option, not a replacement. We are not advocating to replace all other forms of ballot return. We just present an option which adds convenience. It assures up to 85% of the population the ability to participate in elections, from home on their phone. And, in terms of remote voting, it does integrate security capabilities which are probably superior to email or fax, or for that matter, the post office." "We’ll be careful how we word this, we don’t want to start a war with the post office!" "Absolutely, let’s give them credit. They work with the government (a task in itself!) to make sure ballots are properly returned and delivered. But there’s always a possibility of a mail truck catching on fire, because of some natural or other disaster. It’s a risk. Or how about if a drop box filled with water and every ballot inside gets destroyed." "There was an incident in the 2020 election with a burst water pipe supposedly drowning boxes of ballots if I’m not mistaken?" "There is no such thing as risk free, is there? It’s not the post office’s fault, it’s mother nature. And it does a lot of damage, not just to ballots but our mail, the love letters from your girlfriend, the thank you note from your grandmother." "It’s a lot of responsibility on their satchel burdened shoulders! But as you say, risk is a sliding scale, isn’t it?" "That’s the point I’m making here. We need to compare the risk of various alternatives and look at the risk profile in context of convenience, security, privacy, verifiability and audit. If the risk is less than one of the existing options, then why exclude it?" "Sounds like we’re singing from the same hymn sheet on this issue. Next big key question then, and it’s fine if you can only give a high-level overview, but how exactly is blockchain used in the application which was used in previous elections?" "Blockchain is an interesting phenomena, and I think it’s important to put the question 'why use blockchain?' into the conversation. And, in the same breath, I’d also like to take blockchain out of the conversation! Instead, let’s introduce the term distributed ledger. Let’s differentiate between the two. A distributed ledger is a business concept. Create multiple copies of the ledger, so you have multiple copies of the list of transactions and events that occurred. Blockchain is a technology that exploits the power of cryptography to ensure the immutability of distributed ledger. So let’s remove blockchain, because that’s cryptography and requires mathematical skills and probably PHDs to understand! Now we have only the distributed ledger. Why do I want 1000 copies of this? I want 1000 because if there is only 1 manager of the copy, then we have to trust the 1 manager of the copy. In an election, I trust the party, the commission, the civil servants, responsible for running the election. Why do I need a distributed ledger? In reality, do we trust the government? That is an open question." "It’s an interesting one, most systems tend to have unaffiliated parties who verify counts and such. Perhaps it comes less to the question of trusting the existing political party, as the systems and whether these commissions are truly independent?" "But the party is not the government. Your usage of the term is the British variant. There you define the ruling party, the coalition which has the majority, as the government. But if I remember ‘Yes Minister’, you have the government and the civil servants." "You’re exposing the blanks in my knowledge here!" "Well we won’t go too deeply into the working of the legislature of the House of Lords versus parliament, let’s focus on there is parliament and a house of lords over in Westminster. Then there is the civil service that is in all those government buildings surrounding Buckingham Palace and Westminster which form the workers, and they run the government. Comparatively in the US, if I have a republican and a democrat and an independent who collectively monitor the election, then that’s the use of the word government I want to define and use here. Using this, do I trust the government -- that includes the president, the legislature, the judicial branch, the civil servants, the observers -- then why do I need a distributed ledger? If I (like we are right now!) question what do we mean when we say government, do we even mean the same thing? Is your belief the same as my belief? We would sit there and argue, no, and therefore your level of trust and my level of trust are not the same.  And because of this, there is a tiny bit of distrust, distributed ledger makes sense." "In the philosophical sense, as you say, it really does mean many things to many people, even inside one country or region. We all have assumed knowledge which we never think to question." "Yes, and it comes back to why I want a distributed ledger in an election? Well, somebody always distrusts somebody else. Therefore if I create an immutable ledger, it records each and every event of every voter. If we’re going to progress in this field, the press needs to distinguish between the blockchain and distributed ledger. We’ve given blockchain a fuzzy meaning. Like the word ‘internet’, what is the internet? Is it the applications that run in the cloud? Or simply the communications vehicle that allows the client to interact with a server someplace out there running software." " Well this jumps me ahead a couple of questions, but we’ll throw away the script and run with it. Free TON has been doing a lot of work which I know you’ve been following quite closely, but something I’ve wrote about a few times is the Decentralised browser contest ." "Okay, let’s talk for a second, and I’ve not deep-dived into things too much, so my perspective is clouded by what the few people in the community have shared with me. When we talk about governance, one of the problems I have with blockchain addicts is they talk about the value of introducing something that is outside of the government. Free TON This makes me say, ‘Wait a second, how are you going to define and agree how this technology is going to work?’ And they say we’re going to create a governance structure. What's the difference between government and governance? Governments support governance. Satoshi was saying we’re going to eliminate the government from the control of something. If you eradicate government from the control of something, well, okay, but who are you going to replace them with? ‘Oh you have this distributed autonomous organisation!’. Well, what is a DAO? Just a collection of people coming together. What’s a representative government? A collection of people coming together. Whether you’re coming together in person, or on zoom, or with anonymous identifiers, it’s the same." "This ties in with a lot of what Gerard Dache called the “$18 trillion problem of blockchain adoption by governments''. For all these utopian anarchist visions we find in the fringe ends of crypto circles, a society free of Government in overnight fashion is a society without public services and order, which, surely, is more of a dystopia?" "Yes, let’s go back in time 4k, 5k, 6k years, for example. Society has always created a mechanism to ensure harmony. And this mechanism is some form of governance. Then, as the society matures and gets larger, we move from a democratic system of weekly meetings in the village square to decide on issues, to a representative system -- electing people who represent our interests. These elected representatives can then do it full time, so we can go do something else full time. Going back to Free TON, you have this word, ‘Meritocracy’." "Pretty much a flagship word for us here!" "Okay, well let me challenge this. Meritocracy basically says those who are willing and able, become the governance team for whatever it is that needs to be determined. Wind back to feudal times. Who was able? The man with the most guns was able to govern a community. The man with the most brains is possibly able to overpower guns through an assembling of guns." "Or coercion of others with more guns?" "Yes,, when you look at it this way, a meritocracy sounds sort of like a single party system. It disturbs me as a word. When I put a representative government, a democratic government, or a meritocracy, as a method of governance, I would prefer a democratic method which requires everybody to participate." "I understand where you’re coming from, but taking Tezos (as an example and without picking on any project in particular), there is a weighted voting mechanism, more tokens equals more votes. This ends up in a representative model though, as you say, where thought leaders are campaigning for their interests, and those without the technical knowledge vote according to a sense of gut instincts according to who they favour in the ecosystem. How do you move democracy past the scale of a village without ending up in this paradox?" "Exactly, but it all comes down to how you select the representatives. In a meritocracy, as I understand it, it’s a self-selection process. This, in turn, takes me back to the feudal lord. He selected himself to be in control. So now we're in a technical plateau. Those who understand the technology and are able to code, define and build, they become the self-selecting powers. If we remember Skynet, from the Terminator, it self-selected. Now you add AI, and think about AI and think about what's happening in the EU now, where we’re defining a framework for the adoption and introduction of AI, because of the potential… And I’ll leave the dot dot dot to your imagination!" "Bearing in mind my position as jack of all trades, master of none, I’ll tentatively weigh in here and bring up the 'Google AlphaGo project'. Are you aware of it?" "I think you’re exposing the blanks in my knowledge now!" "Touché! Well the game of Go has more possible outcomes than there are atoms in the observable universe, making it nearly impossible to program an AI to play this game in the traditional 0 or 1 yes no decision tree model. When the AlphaGo AI did eventually beat a world champion, it did this with a move which perplexed us mere humans. Now, this was novel, but thinking of intelligence in terms of the Chinese thought box experiment, can a machine ever be intelligent, in the way we understand intelligence, without living the human experience? Dolphins, on paper, are smarter than people after all, but they jump through hoops for fish, so they’re not that smart, right? Is an AI threat any more tangible than a dolphin threat in this way?" "I won't start any fights with dolphin lovers, but I'll take your absurdist intangibility and come back with the Philips Experience. In 1976 I was given a pager, because I needed to be contactable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year." "I can empathise with that feeling of late!" "Then I graduated to a luggable computer. This evolved into a laptop, and now, I use a mobile phone that makes all those other devices look trivial. Now take the AI journey and add to it machine learning big data, heuristic thinking, and I’ve heard other words when we think about how to create an algorithm to deal with random choice in an educated manner. Thinking about what I heard about AI, which was in 2035, we could create a self thinking machine. Winding back to Asimov, he said we need to impose three laws on robots. Robotics and AI, what’s the difference? One is a physical thinking thing, the other is a box which knows how to think. One can manipulate the physical, the other manipulates the digital." "Bringing it back to dolphins though, biologically speaking, they are a pinnacle of evolution. But their form of intelligence is abstract to our human experience in the same way an intelligent box would also be." “Well, let’s go down another path here. I put to you this question: this planet can only support 3.5 billion people, which is a number I’ve read more than once,  but it supports upwards of 8 billion now. How is this? I don’t disagree that the intelligence of man will self-moderate, eventually, but I remind you of what we’ve done to the environment, of what occurs in our so-called civil societies, and so forth. , a rule which is present in all religions, has yet to be adopted on a tribal level. Now we add a DAO into all of this. If we can’t embrace the golden rule, then how can a DAO, or an AI like Skynet, be expected to respect this?” The golden rule, ‘Love thy Neighbour’ To be continued...

How to Scale-up Democracy (Without Invoking Skynet)?

By 2019, most people have probably seen or tried experiences, otherwise known as VR. You may have tried a very basic version of VR with where you could look around and see a 360-degree picture around you. Or you might have even tried a full-fledged VR with the or an where you were not only able to look around but also to move and explore the new and unfamiliar space. virtual reality Google Cardboard HTC Vive Oculus Rift Some people think that VR is just a passing fad, while others praise it to be the next big thing in computing. Despite all that, VR is a new type of medium for interaction with computers, and it’s been steadily breaking into the consumer and enterprise markets for the last 8 years. For example, Ford has used , while Boston Children’s Hospital and . VR to help them to design their GT supercar multiple different other hospitals around the world have used VR as an effective replacement for painkillers This article will try to help PMs to better understand the technology itself (similar to ), to help them to manage VR projects, and to prepare for any challenges that might lie ahead when managing a VR project. our recent article about AI What Is Virtual Reality? To understand what virtual reality is, we must look at the history of 3D technologies and see where VR has come from. Over the years there were multiple attempts to take us from the realm of 2D content into the realm of 3D content. It all started with “3D” pictures in the late 19th century and moved into 3D cinema in the mid 20th century. However, VR should not be mistaken for the more typical 3D content. It is much more than that. “Presence” — the Leap of Faith The key factor differentiating 3D cinema and VR is what engineers in a VR space call “presence”. Presence is a technical term used to describe the feeling of total immersion and existence in another space that VR headsets provide to the user. This feeling of “presence” requires the device to trick many different facets of the human perception system. The best test designed to check the existence of the “presence” is to tell a person to try and walk onto a virtual ledge of a 100 stories tall building and try to jump off it. In a 3D cinema, this might look, daunting, but most people would have no trouble taking the leap. However, in the virtual reality the field of view, refresh rate, resolution and other aspects of the headsets are designed in such a way that it tricks the human perceptual system into believing you are really somewhere else. This makes taking that leap off the building ledge almost an impossible task for most, while others scream and shout while accomplishing this simple and harmless exercise. Those who have the guts to step off the ledge and start virtually falling off the building, report having a feeling of fall in the stomach that mimics the real falling reflex. This is the case because of how well we are tricked in believing virtual reality is real. This feeling of “presence” is the key difference between other 3D experiences and true virtual reality. Is This the First Wave of VR? History of VR starts with the very first demo of a Sword of Damocles in the MIT lab in 1968. Back then VR was mostly a test for military flight simulators and screen technologies. There were many failed attempts to make VR a reality in the mid 20th century, but most of them resembled very basic demos that would take up too much space, and could only be afforded by the largest R&D labs. The first real wave of VR hype came and passed in the early 90s. There were companies making very expensive and cumbersome VR headsets, such as . There was even a TV show called VR Rangers showing kids the wonderful journeys of VR warriors looking suspiciously similar to Power Rangers. Virtuality 1000CS However, the technological capability in the graphics space of the early 90s was not a match for the requirements of the VR systems. Most people have reported side effects of using VR displays at the time. Nausea and sea sickness was accompanying almost all the experiences. Most games couldn’t produce much more than a few simple shapes, and VR was forgotten for another 15 years. Then came the rise of the Oculus Rift, starting with their Kickstarter campaign in early 2010, which has brought VR out of the shadows and into the mainstream consciousness again. Is VR Just for Games? Most people associate VR with playing computer games. While gaming is the big part of VR market, it is definitely not the only use of VR. VR has been successfully applied in many different fields since its inception in the late 1960s. It started off as a research project to make better flight simulators, however, since it’s rebirth VR has been used in many different areas across a variety of industries. Here are some of the more notable examples: allows surgeons to analyze a patient’s anatomy, locate tumors and plan an operation more efficiently. Healthcare: Surgical Theater for spacewalk training and to control robotic arms. Space: NASA uses VR While many cultural institutions have the ability to view parts of their collection in VR, exists entirely within virtual reality and was designed by a world famous architects. Museums: the Kremer Museum allows Ford employees to have a detailed look at an upcoming model and plan any changes to it. Automotive: Ford Vehicle Immersion Environment (FiVE) US army uses VR for various for soldiers returning from battle. Military: training scenarios and for treating PTSD Many real estate companies are using VR to showcase some of their properties, has created a drag and drop tool to create your future home interior and walk around it with the help of mobile VR. Real estate: Planner 5D Employees at Gensler LA offices every week in a virtual replica of a building that is currently being designed by their architects. Architecture: meet There are many apps like and that allow people to interact and create in a virtual world. Social networking: VR Chat Sinespace creates opportunities for immersive teaching in the classroom. Education: ClassVR creates training regimens for sports teams, which allow players to do some extra training on their own time to repeat team strategies. Sports: STRIVR VR Market Overview Currently, there are few different types of VR devices in the market. They can be best split into two categories: Mobile VR and Desktop VR. — As suggested by its name is defined by the portability factor. The first generation of mobile VR headsets often used a smartphone that you would put into the headset shell. The current generation mobile VR headsets use standalone hardware and mobile processors integrated into the headset itself. Mobile VR This allows for a convenient but limited VR experience usually with simpler graphics when compared to desktop VR. One other major drawback of mobile VR is that most of the mobile VR headsets lack something called “positional tracking.” This type of tracking not only tracks the user’s head tilts but also the user’s head position when moving in space. It is essential for a fully immersive experience and reducing the discomfort of the user. Google Cardboard, Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Go, Oculus Quest, HTC Focus etc. Devices: — Desktop VR is sometimes called the Full VR because it allows for a more full VR experience and includes features such as positional tracking for the head and both hand controllers. A variety of desktop VR systems exist with some featuring additional add-ons such as omnidirectional treadmills, full room trackers, gloves, interfaces for multiple different controllers, etc. Desktop VR However, the most defining feature of a desktop VR headset is the quality of the full body immersion experience, giving the user the best possible “presence” effect. This is mainly enabled by the power of the GPU and the CPU inside the desktop machines these headsets get connected to. Not having the small form factor of the mobile devices these systems can use much more powerful processors. This also usually means that an average VR capable computer would cost you around $2000. Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Playstation VR, Intel Chip Based Windows XR variants such as Acer, Samsung, Asus, HP VR systems. Devices: VR Development: What Project Managers Should Know Key Roles Within the Virtual Reality Development Lifecycle Software Developer/Game Engine Expert/Computer Graphics Expert Naturally, somebody will need to code all the interaction capabilities in your VR app. This is where the role of comes in. Keep in mind that not all software developers have experience in working with 3D graphics or using game engines. Most VR projects use either or for making this task much easier. 3D game engines have certain graphics and control features, which help to cut the development time and cost up to 20x when compared to making your own 3D engine. 90% of VR content produced today is using Unity 3D, and it’s relatively easy to find software developer Unity 3D Unreal Engine Unity developers for hire. If you decide to build your VR platform from scratch or your application requires a specific 3D engine, then you will need a who is able to use bare bone tools such as OpenGL to build a new game engine for you to use in your project. If you decide to go down this route, keep in mind that this might significantly increase the workload and budget required to finish the app. In some cases, this way of building VR experiences can have some performance gains. However, most of these benefits will be negligent compared to the cost of finding a senior computer graphics expert if you decide not to use one of the available 3D engines. In simple terms, this can be compared to making your own camera when shooting a movie. graphics expert As a professional PM tasked with virtual reality project management you will need to educate yourself on the technical requirements of the project, and how they impact your project’s bottom line. Keep in mind that not all software developers are equal, so look for when hiring for your VR project. people with game development experience VR Specialist/VR Designer Even though simple VR apps are relatively easy to build, the complexity grows exponentially as more features are added. This is mostly due to the limitations of current computing power and the way graphics are processed in a computer. VR apps have their own set of unique challenges that only become apparent when designing a VR project. To tackle these you will need to who has experience working specifically with VR apps. hire a VR specialist Some of these challenges are related to the technical limitations, and specifications, while others are more human interface related. For example, if you design a VR app in which the user will be experiencing the world through a height that’s different than their own, make sure they sit on a bar chair rather than a normal chair. This sounds rather bizarre, however, our brain registers our feet touching the ground and calculates our “correct” perceived height, therefore if our feet are not touching the ground we can better tolerate the experience of being much taller in VR than we really are. As another example, if your VR experience uses teleportation, a good VR specialist would tell you to use the screen blanking effect that lasts 300ms because our brains would accept this as a real blink of an actual eye (which last between 300–500ms), and would filter out the effect completely, making for a more smooth experience. These problems usually don’t surface in our regular software or design projects, that’s why it is important to hire at least a part-time , who can make sure you save a lot of time and money by building a right thing in the right way. VR specialist consultant 3D Artist/Scene Designer/Animator is usually a person sculpting the actual 3D content. is somebody who puts all the 3D assets together to create the environment. is responsible for preparing the 3D models for animations and then creating those animations using various different software tools. A 3D artist A scene designer An animator All of these jobs can be done by one person, which is usually the case when somebody is building a bootstrapped VR project. In large film or game design studios, you would typically find highly specialized individuals taking up these roles. Either way, these roles are very important for any VR project. VR experiences rely heavily on 3D content and production of that content can make up to as much as 80% of work required for making a VR app. As a PM, it’s important to understand that these roles are most likely going to be your biggest sources of expenditure for the project, and you should plan your budget accordingly. Common Challenges When Managing a VR Project 3D Content Can Take a Longer Time to Produce Than Expected 3D modeling is a hard task requiring large amounts of time to complete. The creation of animations for the 3D models is even a harder task. For a PM it is important to keep this in mind when estimating the story points. For example, humanoid figures like robots, humans, horses, virtual assistants, or any other complex biological creatures can take as much as 100x longer to model and animate than interactive objects made out of more primitive forms, such as buildings or menu windows. For example, a scene showing virtual office workers working could take up to 100x longer to model, animate and design than an architectural demo showing the outside of a building. A good rule of thumb to use here is to think about animation and 3D modeling in terms of drawing. If something is hard to draw, like humans or animals, it’s going to be much harder to model it in 3D and even harder to animate it so it looks professional. However, if something can be described in code, like a complex animation of abstract shapes, that can be much easier to build and manipulate in 3D. Algorithms work cheaper than humans, and as a PM you should be the first line of defense making sure that the project scope stays realistic by having realistic requirements around content. VR is GPU Limited Everything that is created in VR will have to be displayed using a graphics processor unit in your computer, otherwise known as a GPU. Even the best computers today are still limited by the number of 3D objects they can manipulate at the same time. The fact that VR uses a display that is refreshed at least 90 times per second, means that VR is putting a very heavy load on the computer that it is running on. For example, a VR headset such us an HTC Vive would require a computational load comparable to the 3 to 4 normal computer monitors running on the machine at the same time. Most of our virtual reality applications are limited by what the current day devices can achieve with their GPUs. The best way to imagine this is to think about 3D games from the early 2000s. They were starting to explore realistic 3D graphics, however, most of them were still using shortcuts to achieve the maximum visual effects. This is exactly the situation with the current VR experiences, we are still in the very early days, and most applications will be limited by the capabilities of the hardware they are running on. Variety of Devices and Platforms As mentioned above there are many different VR platforms available. At the time of writing of this article, there are at least 30+ different VR devices available across both desktop and mobile VR markets. This means that supporting your VR app on all of the platforms would require a lot of additional tweaking and rework. It’s especially difficult to share content between mobile VR and desktop VR apps since they support very different levels of 3D graphics and animations. Using a 3D game engine such as Unity 3D or Unreal Engine helps because they allow an app to be theoretically deployed to more than one platform with minimal rework. In practice, it is easy to share the builds between most high-end desktop VR systems, however, mobile VR might need additional rework and new 3D assets to work smoothly. As a PM, plan accordingly and limit your scope to a few most popular platforms so it’s easier to maintain the codebase and support the best user experience. Even though VR has been around for a while there is still little conclusive evidence about its potential health risks. There are multiple studies looking into device induced shortsightedness, and other potential hazards but none of them have conclusive evidence yet. Most of the hazards in VR come from the actual surroundings around the user. Risks of falling, tripping over, and smashing the controllers around the workspace are there. Manufacturers work to reduce them by introducing virtual borders and notifications systems. For now, most VR headsets manufacturers don’t recommend the headset to be used by children. That is mostly due to its side effects that are sometimes experienced by the users. The early 1990s nausea and seasickness are mostly gone, however some apps, especially if not designed well, can cause some degree of seasickness. As a PM, you should know that the key to designing good VR experiences without side effects, is in the interactions, and especially in movement mechanics. Those are out of this article’s scope, but for those interested in finding out more, Facebook’s . Oculus has put together a great guide how to design comfortable VR experiences Conclusion: Seeing Is Believing VR has changed a lot since its early days. In its current form, it is a useful tool for industries using 3D content, working with training, or aiming to create an impression by “transporting” users into a different place. As it is with most technologies, VR is all about people and social interactions rather than the tech itself. The current day technology developments are only useful as long as they solve some sort of problem that users have. This is especially true with Virtual Reality projects, and their applications in the industry. Industries currently gaining the most value from VR are architecture and interior design, training and simulation, data visualization, gaming, entertainment, and movies. The main challenge of the VR development comes from the fact it is heavily reliant on 3D models and animations. This can be a difficult task if the complexity of the certain type of modeling and animations is not understood. There are multiple other challenges with VR therefore it is wise to get help from a VR professional when building your VR app. Game engines can help to solve some of the development challenges but you have to find the right developers who know how to use them. Extra Materials from the Author VR Technology Engineer Explains VR in 5 Levels of Difficulty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akveRNY6Ulw Brief VR Explanation by MKBHD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Zt3JZejbg History of Virtual Reality Technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOwLCoBqCs VR News https://www.roadtovr.com/ o_riginally published at_ Written by Audrius Zujus and www.toptal.com .

VR Project Development — How Project Managers Should Prepare

On season two of the trendy HBO drama , the company co-founders host a party for investors. At the end of the party, the founder asks one of the investors if he can tell which of the attendees is a robot. The investor sizes everyone up and finally guesses one woman, who looks too impeccable to be a human. But ultimately, all the guests are robots. They were so lifelike the investor couldn’t tell they were machines. Westworld Of course, we’re a long way from living among robots that lifelike. But emotional AI — or emotion-recognition technology — is the next frontier of artificial intelligence. That said, it isn’t new. MIT professors created a computer program called ELIZA that interacted with humans as early as the 1960s. But what once required specialized labs and supercomputers can now be deployed to the cloud much more easily and at a fraction of the cost. The democratized access to the necessary hardware to run AI has made it increasingly popular with all types of companies in recent years. Annette Zimmermann, vice president of research at Gartner, that by the year 2022, “your personal device will know more about your emotional state than your own family.” And a recent from the University of Ohio claimed that their algorithm was are. In the near future, a variety of AI systems and devices will recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human emotions. says study better at detecting emotions than people Not everyone is ready to welcome AI with open arms. Many fear that AI will become conscious and seek to destroy us. Others worry that bad actors will use AI to achieve evil ends. But these fears that AI will develop awareness and overthrow humanity, however, are often grounded in serious misconceptions. Any technology often seems daunting when it’s new, but emotional AI isn’t scary. As it becomes more a part of everyday life and everyday experiences online, it’s going to improve user experience for customers and help companies provide the best service they can. Here’s what you need to know: Humans are basically biological algorithms. People who are intimidated by AI often find solace in the fact that it can’t replicate human emotion — but that’s not exactly true. In , Professor Yuval Noah Harari writes that humans are essentially a collection of biological algorithms shaped by millions of years of evolution. He says that there is no reason to think that non-organic algorithms couldn’t replicate and surpass everything that organic algorithms can do. Homo Deus This sentiment is echoed by Max Tegmark in his book Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. The idea is that our emotions and feelings are the product of organic algorithms, which are shaped by our cultural history, upbringing, and life experiences. They can, therefore, be reverse-engineered. If Professor Harari and Tegmark are right, computers will eventually become better at manipulating human emotions than humans themselves. People already touch their phones an average 2,617 times a day, a level of engagement that indicates a future controlled by technology is fast approaching. As artificial intelligence gets more sophisticated, people will happily allow algorithms to handle the more cumbersome parts of their lives. Emotional AI is the new lie detector. The old-fashioned polygraph monitors physiological changes in the body (blood pressure, pulse) to determine if someone is telling the truth. Machine learning does the same thing, but without all the wires and cumbersome machinery. In fact, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and authorities in Canada and the European Union are testing , which uses AI to monitor people for lies during border crossing. “The system can detect changes in the eyes, voice, gestures, and posture to determine potential risk,” Aaron Elkins, an assistant professor of management information systems at San Diego State, . “It can even tell when you’re curling your toes.” a system called AVATAR has said AVATAR isn’t the only digital lie detection system. A company called Converus announced last month that its , which administers a 30-minute test judging truthfulness based on a computer’s observations of eye movement, would be accepted as evidence in a New Mexico court. EyeDetect system As the tech becomes more sophisticated, the average smartphone user will be able to benefit from emotional AI. The iPhone XR, which I recently bought, has facial recognition software. This means there’s no touch interaction for things like payments, login, and verification. You don’t have to remember passwords and PIN numbers, and it makes everything more secure. Overall, it’s makes using your phone much faster and easier. Dozens of phones now come with face unlock features, like Google’s Pixel 2, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9, and Motorola’s Moto G6. And using what are called deep neural networks — vast networks of hardware and software that approximate the web of neurons in the human brain — companies like Google and Facebook are working on similar face recognition technology and have already rolled it into their online services. It’s only a matter of time until emotional AI is fully mainstream. AI can pick up on emotional cues to improve your online experience. Consumers tend to rely more on their emotions than anything else to make purchase decisions. When you go into a store and it’s obvious you’re having a bad day, the clerk can likely look at your face and know that. This will dictate how they interact with you, how to approach you, and what to sell you. But with so much of our purchasing activity moving online, it’s more important than ever for software to pick up on emotional cues in the same way a store clerk does. That’s where emotional AI comes in. AI and machine learning allow retailers to provide a better experience for the consumer by personalizing each interaction in ways that human employees cannot replicate — even better than a store clerk. Emotional AI can be empathetic to a customer’s frustration, can take abuse and come back with a smile. It can also pick up on your desires to deliver to your precise emotional needs. AI does this by already leveraging our online history — advanced learning algorithms developed at Facebook and Google have been applied to a treasure trove of data from billions of people. By analyzing our communications, friends, and cultural context, these algorithms are already able to identify many of our desires and emotional triggers. As with the early days of the Web, there remains much work to do — and many ethical and regulatory conversations still to be had — before emotional AI can be seamlessly integrated into the daily lives of consumers. But compared to expectations of even a few years ago, things are a lot farther along than many expected. Emotional AI isn’t being a human — it’s about making our experience online as human-like as possible. It’s not something to be intimidated by, and for tech companies (and consumers), it’s a major opportunity.

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