Can Policymakers Keep Pace With Immersive Technologies?
Washington, DC – Today, the Bipartisan Policy Center released its latest report, Thinking Ahead About XR, which aims to jumpstart the conversation on proactive approaches to identifying and addressing the challenges of technology, while minimizing harms and maximizing the benefits to society.
“XR technology is increasingly common, and we will soon see an inflection point that all emerging tech goes through where the application of the tech needs policy guidance” said Tom Romanoff, director of BPC’s Technology Project. “Today’s proactive discussion is necessary to address the challenges of tomorrow by identifying and addressing the shortcomings while still improving quality of life and creating economic opportunity.”
“As we move towards the successful adoption of XR, it’s critical that we hear from experts representing multidisciplinary backgrounds,” said Elizabeth Hyman, CEO of the XR Association. “There is much potential for XR to improve our quality of life, and it’s vital that we’re fostering conversations about its future impact with multiple communities. We’re champions of collecting diverse perspectives.”
With applications such as workforce training, remote collaboration, novel customer experiences, and seemingly endless immersive learning opportunities, BPC worked with the XR Association for over a year to engage various stakeholders and host a series of private convenings to learn about the important policy challenges that society should address. Topics in the report include:
- Privacy
- Security
- Economic issues
- Access and adoption
- Equity and inclusion
- Safety
The immersive technologies (AR, VR, XR) industry is growing rapidly. Statista predicts that in three years, VR market revenue will grow from less than $5 billion to more than $12 billion. PwC estimates XR will add as high as half a trillion dollars to the U.S. GDP, and $1.5 trillion to the global economy by 2030. PwC also projects that by 2030, more than 2 million jobs will be enhanced by VR and AR technologies.
Join us today at 1:00 p.m. ET for our event, “Charting a Course for Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality,” as we dive into the report and convene experts to discuss what’s next for XR.
Read the report.
For questions or to speak with Tom Romanoff, please contact Senior Manager of Media Relations Kyle Fischer.