Agenda
The following agenda is subject to change. Speakers to be announced.
9:30 AM
Registration Opens
10:00 AM
Welcome Remarks
10:10 AM
Fireside Chat
10:30 AM
Panel #1: Why Open-Source XR Is America's New Digital Frontier
Efforts are under way to establish an open metaverse browser to enable a spatial internet with interoperability through open standards without gatekeepers. Much like what web browsers did for the World Wide Web, this browser aims to accelerate the creation of richer, more dynamic virtual experiences, lowering barriers to entry for developers, and enabling new forms of user-generated economies.
Yet this expansion also raises urgent questions about Digital Sovereignty: Who controls the infrastructure of virtual worlds? How do open models interact with proprietary platforms, and what are the implications for national security, intellectual property, and content moderation? This panel will examine the intersection of open-source XR development and the growth of virtual worlds, exploring how policy frameworks around licensing, data governance, and platform interoperability can foster innovation while preventing a fragmented digital landscape. How are organizations developing the technical standards that will underpin virtual world interoperability, and how can U.S. industry and government assert leadership in that process?
11:10 AM
Panel #2: The Augmented Workplace: Balancing Accessibility, Workforce Opportunity, and Bystander Privacy
Smart glasses and AI-powered wearables are opening new doors for workers with disabilities, enhancing on-the-job productivity, and creating more inclusive and accessible workplace environments. Yet as these devices become more prevalent in professional settings, their always-on cameras and sensors raise difficult questions about the rights and expectations of those who never chose to be part of the experience. Coworkers, customers, and passersby can be recorded, identified, or analyzed without their knowledge or consent, creating a tension between the genuine benefits these technologies deliver and the privacy interests of bystanders who have no say in their deployment. Reflecting on recent 2025-2026 EEOC guidance regarding wearables, panelists will discuss how to implement "Privacy by Design" without creating new barriers for workers with disabilities. We will explore technical and policy solutions: Should "active recording" indicators be standardized? How do we handle data minimization in sensitive environments like hospitals or secure government facilities? This session seeks to move beyond the "privacy vs. access" binary to find a framework that protects everyone in the frame.
11:50 AM
Lunch Break
12:50 PM
Keynote Remarks
1:10 PM
Lightning Talk
1:20 PM
Fireside Chat
1:40 PM
Panel #3: How Digital Twins and Immersive Technologies Can Unify National Security and Disaster Response
From fleet readiness and infrastructure monitoring to disaster response and emergency management, digital twins have the potential to serve as a common operating picture that unifies disparate data sources into a single, actionable environment. But realizing that potential requires solving hard problems - especially as the White House implements its National Digital Twins R&D Strategic Plan. How do we standardize digital twin frameworks across agencies and sectors? What federal policy and data-sharing proposals are needed to break down the silos that undermine coordinated response? And as wearable AI devices become more capable, how can they be meaningfully integrated into these systems to put real-time intelligence directly in the hands of the people on the ground? This panel will bring together experts from defense, emergency management, and the private sector to explore the 2026 policy frameworks required to turn the strategic plan’s vision into practice - how immersive technology can serve as the connective tissue for a more resilient and responsive national infrastructure.
2:20 PM
Break
2:50 PM
Lightning Talk
3:00 PM
Lightning Talk
3:10 PM
Fireside Chat
3:30 PM
Panel #4: The Patchwork Problem: Navigating the Surge of State AI and Privacy Regulations
As federal AI legislation remains stalled, states have stepped into the void, enacting a growing and often divergent array of AI and biometric privacy laws that are fundamentally reshaping augmented and virtual reality. For example, Illinois’ BIPA, Texas’ biometric consent law, Washington’s My Voice My Image Act, and California’s emerging AI rules are creating a 50-state patchwork that dictates how XR products are engineered, where they are deployed, and how quickly they reach American consumers. For an industry that depends on seamless nationwide scalability—whether AR glasses for enterprise, VR training simulators, or spatial computing platforms—this fragmentation poses severe challenges for domestic innovation and venture investment. This panel will examine the current state AI and biometric policy landscape, with concrete examples of how compliance requirements are forcing XR companies to redesign products or avoid certain markets, the downstream economic implications, and the urgent path toward a coherent federal framework that fosters innovation while ensuring consumer safety.4:10 PM
Closing Remarks
4:30 PM
Network Reception
6:00 PM
Conference Concludes
For any media inquiries, please contact both Brad Williamson (bwilliamson@glenechogroup.com) and Nicole Hinojosa (nhinojosa@itif.org).
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