NextUp: XR – Brigham Digital Innovation Hub

About

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

Events

Past iHub XR Events

August 10th, 2022: Pilot Event
September 21st, 2022: Session by Dr. Anu Mehta on Using Olfactory VR to Reduce Opioid Consumption in Burn Patients
October 26th, 2022: Session by Dr. Jayender Jagadeesan on XR Guided Surgery and Vendor Demo by Jolly Good

Upcoming iHub XR Events

November 30th, 2022
December 21st, 2022
January 25th, 2023

Past Conferences Attended Key Takeaways

Augmented Enterprise Summit (AES)

Manufacturing and Construction companies are seeing benefits of using XR for immersive collaboration.
Remote technical assists with XR is reducing the need to send technical repair teams, saving transport and technician costs.
While there are market leaders, a “complete” solution remains to be developed, especially for healthcare.

Augmented World Expo (AWE)

The current model for XR in healthcare centers around point solutions.
The infrastructure needed for scaling XR in healthcare is just beginning to form.
Wearable AR remains an early, proof-of-concept stage technology with primarily iterative updates from incumbent companies.
Non-wearable AR solutions were found to be more mature and extensive than wearable AR solutions.
Next generation wearable haptic technology has great potential in healthcare

Upcoming Conferences

11/9 Wellness and Therapeutic VR (MedVR)

medvr.io

12/5-12/7 Immerse Global Summit (AR/VR Association)

immerseglobalnetwork.com

3/3 – 3/5 VR and Healthcare Global Symposium @Penn Med

https://health23.ivrha.org

3/29-3/30 Virtual Medicine Conference (vMed23)

virtualmedicine.org/

Get Involved

Mass General Brigham Community
For interested MGB individuals, we have created a mailing list to capture those who are interested in our NextUp: XR efforts. We will use this list to identify people who are interested in XR and will send them event invites, resources, and updates on our other NextUP: XR activities and opportunities.

Vendors and external companies
For vendors, companies, and groups outside Mass General Brigham working in XR, please complete our XR community intake form. By completing and submitting this form you will make your company profile available to our team as we seek out and evaluate compelling XR solutions.

Please note that this is not an application to a startup accelerator or incubator program. Submitting a profile does not guarantee you an engagement with Mass General Brigham. Should we see a fit between your profile and an active need within a Mass General Brigham institution, we may reach out with next steps.

Intake Form