The NextUp initiative aims to support the adoption of emerging technologies such as Extended Reality (XR) by developing expertise, producing informational materials and resources, supporting the development of ideas and use-cases, and by hosting a series of events focused on the technology. We intend to develop a repeatable process to efficiently build internal expertise on any emerging technology and use that expertise to engage, inspire, and support staff and their innovative endeavors.
The core activities in this process include:
- Perform landscape scans (internal & external)
- Take deep dives into promising companies, products, projects
- Develop relationships, both internal and external to MGB, to develop and support new use-cases
- Attend relevant events and conferences
- Convene events and meetings focused on the technology
- Research, compile, and digest relevant literature and news
- Highlight internal projects & innovators making use of the technology
- Compile a list of promising potential use-cases to serve as a starting point
Over the next year, the focus of NextUp and our first event series will be XR in healthcare. The events in this initial XR series are designed to gather and connect people at Mass General Brigham who are interested in the idea of using XR in their work.
Goals of the NextUp XR Initiative
- Community
- Facilitate discussions through an online, asynchronous community
- Share industry news, stories, and other information with the community
- Flagship programming to bring together the community
- Get involved through: XR Teams Channel, Newsletter, Monthly XR Club
- Advisory
- Provide 1:1 ideation consults
- Brainstorm ways to use and apply XR for ideas and projects
- Guidance on technical and operational implementation
- Get involved through: Schedule an innovation consult with the iHub
- Research and Discovery
- Provide market landscape and industry analysis on XR
- Connections to startups and companies working at the intersection of healthcare and XR
- Access to AR/VR devices
- Get involved through: reviewing our XR company 1 pagers, signing up to present at XR club