AR Alliance Becomes Division of SPIE

BELLINGHAM, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The AR Alliance, dedicated to advancing open and interoperable augmented reality (AR) ecosystem and supply chains, announces its recent establishment as a division of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

The AR Alliance provides a supportive and neutral environment for organizations of all sizes to take an active role in advancing and strengthening the augmented reality hardware development ecosystem. Diverse organizations across the expanding, global AR ecosystem, work together through the AR Alliance to speed innovation and breakthrough technologies and processes for building AR wearables and devices that create meaningful and positive experiences for users.

“We are building AR together,” said Dr. Bharath Rajagopalan, Chair of The AR Alliance and Director of Strategic Marketing, STMicroelectronics. “The promise of AR and its potential market are so vast that there is ample room for all our member companies, and stakeholders, to succeed together. The AR Alliance is the place where concrete work takes place to harmonize approaches for advancing, unifying, and growing the global AR supply chain as well as accelerating innovation. We are delighted to be part of SPIE where we can leverage the strong synergies between our organizations and provide our respective members with access to a broader and richer ecosystem.”

“Optics and photonics are a key enabler of augmented reality technology, and SPIE has had an impactful presence on the AR scene for many years now, particularly through our SPIE AR|VR|MR conference in San Francisco and our SPIE Optical Systems Design conference in Strasbourg,” said SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “We’re delighted to be developing this new partnership with the AR Alliance and working together to build a strong AR industry powered by optics and photonics.”

About SPIE

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, we have invested more than $26 million in the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development. www.spie.org.

About The AR Alliance

The AR Alliance Founding Board Members comprise STMicroelectronics, META, Essilor Luxottica, Corning, Dispelix, Optofidelity, MICROOLED, Google, and Qualcomm.

Organizations of every size and in any sector of the ecosystem are respected, heard, and supported in The AR Alliance’s non-competitive, collaborative environment. Flexible membership levels remove barriers to access enabling companies of varying stages of maturity and resources to engage.

To learn more about membership in The AR Alliance, please visit www.thearalliance.org.