VME lab of University of Vaasa is a partner at the first XR OCEAN Hackathon event taking place on 15-18th October. The participants of the event will work in international teams in 48 hours to design prototypes that promote future citizenship participation with extended or augmented reality- this will help citizens be seen, heard and valued in new and powerful ways.
Wish to participate in the contest? You can register here  at latest on 10th October. 

 

VME joining the contest

We are very happy to announce that Tarmo Kähkönen and Kasper Kovanen, both third-year students in information technology science at the University of Vaasa, are representing VME at the contest and will be travelling to Kiel to join the event team. Tarmo Kähkönen finds the XR Ocean event interesting as he sees that XR technology unleashes completely new ways of working. Currently, studies take up most of Tarmo’s time, but apart from school work Tarmo actively follows the development of technology and science. Kasper Kovanen believes that most potentials in information technology rely on virtual and  augmented reality. That is what motivated him to join the XR Ocean event and the future XR-development. Besides his studies, Kasper spends time with computers, games, fishing, and at the gym – and of course on the slopes during winters!

 

Experienced mentoring  

The university of Vaasa also actively supports the work of the Hackathon participants. Sebastian Laitila, a university teacher in digital communications, who represents years of experience and solid expertise in game design in XR environments, software development and game research, will be mentoring the contest teams at the event.

Sebastian’s personal research interests are in engagement and usability in interactive systems, games as an art form, and at the University of Vaasa he is responsible for the teaching in  game studies, game design, game culture, digital market content planning, www-design and communication service design.
Read more about Sebastian’s work here.

 

Vaasa game industry leveraging expertise in the jury

We are also delighted to see Vaasa area representation in the contest jury as Jussi Loukiainen, the CEO of Platonic Partnership, a Vaasa-headquartered game studio, has been appointed a jury member at the Hackathon.

Jussi is one of the four founders of Platonic Partnership, a true enthusiast and pioneer in the Ostrobothnia game scene and has helped numerous start-ups in the West Coast Start Up incubator to succeed with emerging business ideas. Platonic Partnership is an award winning game studio from Vaasa. Jussi and his team provides expertise in gamification, applied games and digital solutions to their partners.

Read more about Platonic Partnership here.

 

Join us in October 15th to 18th

#XROcean is a way to encourage XR-enthusiasts around the Baltic sea to join forces to hack outside the box ideas, and help citizens to feel a participating member of the society. XR is yet emerging business with potential in multiple industries and processes – therefore it is important we continue to build a strong knowledge community to accelerate the access to XR- benefits for all citizens and employees in their everyday life. Register here.