*AUREA Awards Jury: Cathy Hackl, Futurist; Kathleen Cohen, Jury Chair; Tech Humanist, Thomas Wagner, CEO VR Coaster; Frederic Lecompte, Co-Founder Blacklight VR/AR; Frank Govaere, VFX Supervisor UFA Berlin
Kathleen Cohen Profile Photo

Kathleen Cohen

Immersive Design
and Experience Strategist

Kathleen Cohen is known as a Tech Humanist and an XR Immersive Strategist with over 25+ years building both user and guest experiences.

Founder of The Collaboratorium, a consultancy focusing on XR Research, XR Strategy & Production, as well as Public Engagement, Kathleen's clients range from Megacity, Gigacity projects to Health & Wellness implementations, as well as Media & Entertainment. Her XR Research focuses on key learnings from both the Indigenous Science and the Neurodivergent communities.

Kathleen’s background as a Creative and a Producer includes: DreamWorks Interactive, IBM Centers for Innovation and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. Kathleen also was the former Vice President of Digital Innovation & Integration for The National Constitution Center helping to tell the contemporary story of the U.S. Constitution. Kathleen sits on the Advisory Board of holoride (Munich); a spinout of Audi innovation, think passenger entertainment, or XR in your car. For the past five years, Kathleen has also been the Jury Chair and Keynote Speaker for the AUREA Award, a conference and awards show, focusing on global excellence in immersive XR entertainment, hosted by Europa-Park.

Kathleen's past talks include: Presentense®, A Place Called Now®, Being Human, Becoming Human and Beyond Human® IRL vs. XR®, The Future and Present Converge(s)®. and Meet Your Digital Twin®, a talk about the land rush to recreating humans.

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AWE Panel: The City of Los Angeles and Immersive Innovation

AWE Panel: The City of Los Angeles and Immersive Innovation

This panel gathers several key thought leaders representing the Mayor’s Office of The City of L.A, LA-based Arizona State University and LA Trade Tech College to discuss immersive XR projects happening around town. The discussion will be led by Kathleen Cohen, Tech Humanist and XR Strategist who has brought these brilliant minds together to reflect the current perspectives of local programs.

The City of L.A. uses innovative technologies to address a wide variety of real-world challenges. Dawn Comer and Rachel Kornak from the Mayor’s Office of Finance, Operations and Innovation will discuss several initiatives that focus on providing equitable access to City services, reducing the digital divide, supporting small businesses, training youth for jobs of the future and advancing digital transformation of government services.

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AWE Expo 2023: Finding Vegas VR Nirvana in the Backseat of a ’67 Deville

AWE Expo 2023: Finding Vegas VR Nirvana in the Backseat of a ’67 Deville

This casual discussion outlines the original mission of holoride from 2015, with our co-founder’s vision spun out of AUDI Innovation. Our longstanding partnerships with HTC and Schell Games paint an immersive journey building a solid platform together pairing real time car data, open map data and original content creation. We will explore the successes and challenges within the VR industry that helped us reach our goal of an Elastic SDK, the onboarding of more strategic partners, our RIDE Token, scaling a diverse company, launching a consumer facing product store and rolling this out both in Germany and the US. So what’s in store for the next 5 years, 12 years — and, the long game of mobility, transportation and media & entertainment? Come join the lively conversation.

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A Journey Into Immersive Worlds

A Journey Into Immersive Worlds

Tuesday, May 2, 2023
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Beverly Hilton – Oasis Pavilion
As the exciting capabilities of multi-media technology become more clearly defined, society is experiencing one of the most creative periods in recent history. This new era of immersive experiences blurs yet enhances the lines between physical and digital realities. From gaming to art, to education, to AI, we are experiencing the information transformation of the world around us and witnessing the revolution of technology. Our panelists will share their insights on the current state of these areas and the ethical considerations accompanying this new frontier.

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Aurea Award 2022

AUREA is the leading European conference in VR, AR, XR, MR, and immersive entertainment. It’s a global community of leaders at the intersection of immersive technology, a forum for creators to build the products of tomorrow, and a space for for innovators to interact, engage, and learn. We strive to highlight the latest trends, celebrate excellence, and kickstart collaboration. Building on the success of our digital event last year, the 4th annual AUREA Award will combine physical, virtual, and digital formats. The event is presented by Europa-Park, whose industry-leading expertise offers attendees a chance to experience the latest entertainment.

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