The AR Alliance, an organization focused on advancing augmented reality, is the newest division of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. Officials with both organizations say the pairing will allow them to further build on the work being done with AR, powered by optics and photonics. The AR Alliance was founded by members of STMicroelectronics, Google, Qualcomm, Essilor Luxottica, Corning, Optofidelity, and MICROOLED. Their mission is to provide a neutral, non-competitive environment for companies and researchers to take an active role in strengthening and developing the augmented reality ecosystem. In these environments, groups can collaborate on new innovations to accelerate the development of AR wearables and other devices. “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," said Bharath Rajagopalan, Chair of The AR Alliance and Director of Strategic Marketing at STMicroelectronics. “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.” SPIE has been active has been active in the AR space for years, particularly through its SPIE AR|VR|MR conference and SPIE Optical Systems Design conference, SPIE CEO Kent Rochford said, noting the synergy between the organizations.
