The extended reality (XR) industry, which includes virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR), is rapidly becoming a key economic engine for nations around the world as crucial advancements in technologies such as 5G, the Metaverse, smart glasses, training, and others make headlines daily.
Governments are mulling the level of investments needed to fund research and development (R&D), support, and deployment of such emerging technologies as the Fourth Industrial Revolution continues.
XR Today spoke to Joan O’Hara, Vice President of Public Policy for the XR Association, to discuss the US Innovation and Competition Act, or USICA, and its role in building the future of the United States.
The XR Association is a Washington, DC-based organisation which promotes the global adoption of XR technologies, and includes association members such as Google, Microsoft, Oculus, HTC VIVE, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, among many others.
XR Today: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role with the XRA?
Joan O’Hara: I am the Vice President of Public Policy and handle both policy development and government relations. I have a deep background in government work prior to coming to the XRA, where I’ve been for just over a year now.
I worked first on Capitol Hill as the General Counsel to the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. Later, I went over to the White House to serve as former Vice-President Mike Pence’s Deputy National Security Adviser and the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council.
Good government experience really helps to inform the work I’m doing now. Obviously, I’m a big fan of public private partnership and believe that the private and public sector really need to work together for things to get done. I’m happy to be here to talk to you about USICA and the great work that Congress has been doing on innovation and emerging technologies.
XR Today: What is the Endless Frontier Act, and what is its role in the USICA? Why are they separate and what exactly do they do?
Joan O’Hara: Well, they’re not separate anymore. The Endless Frontier Act (EFA) was a standalone bill, introduced by Senator Chuck Schumer [D-NY], but it became a part of a bigger package known as the USICA. It is now a section of the USICA, which also includes several other bills.
Basically, there were a number of legislative initiatives that had similar objectives, and rather than pass them individually, they were packaged up as the USICA. So, the Endless Frontier Act is still intact, but rather than being a standalone bill, it’s now part of that bigger package.
XR Today: How does the USICA aim to reposition the US globally in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is a very important US public policy these days?
Joan O’Hara: The USICA is unique, and I think a very important [bill], in that it is recognising that technology is evolving very quickly. We are at the threshold of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, where these emerging technologies are going to really impact industries across the sector.
So, in order for the United States to not only keep up, but to position itself as a leader, we need to really start taking a serious look at the technology ecosystem as a whole, what we’re doing to invest in these technologies, making sure that we’re thinking ahead, and that we’re supporting the ingenious and innovative people here in the United States, who are doing terrific work on exploring these technologies.
Also, there’s the issue of US competitiveness. The technologies are important in and of themselves, as well as the benefits they will provide to society, but of course, there’s an economic aspect to this as well. As our economies, infrastructure, and our industries develop along with these technologies, it’s gonna be really important that the US is on the cutting edge.
XR Today: Can we talk a little bit further about what the bill represents? Why is the XRA advocating the inclusion of XR technologies in this bill, and why have lawmakers excluded or failed to prioritise them in the past?
Joan O’Hara: A large part of my role with the XR Association is to help members of Congress, their staff, and other policy makers understand what XR technology is, and most of the time, when I have meetings with folks on the Hill or in the [current Biden] Administration, they have some familiarity with augmented and virtual reality, although it’s typically in the context of gaming or entertainment.
So, people have put on an [head-mounted display], play the game, and have a very positive response, which is great. People are thinking technology is really cool, I enjoy it, and they’re happy to take a meeting with me because I get to talk about something that’s fun.
But they don’t recognise necessarily the larger impact of the technology at the enterprise scale. And that’s especially with respect to a bill like USICA and its mission, which is to make sure that we’re advancing emergent technology. That’s where it’s really important.
This is going to be a technology that pervades everything, from health care, medicine, education, public safety, manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, collaboration, the workplace, and others. It’s going to be everywhere and it’s widely considered to be the next computing platform, or successor to the smartphone.
It’s really important that lawmakers are thinking ahead and making sure that we’re supporting that technology, and then, five years from now, not caught off guard and say, “Oh, my gosh, this is huge. This is impacting everything! How come we haven’t been investing in this technology?”
A large part of my mission is to help them to understand what the technology is, how it’s going to have an impact, not only on people’s personal lives, but on our economy and industry as a whole.
XR Today: Has the organisation assessed the additional costs as well as the return on investment for the Act, and over what period of time would that investment need to take place in order to reach your targets?
Joan O’Hara: We haven’t looked specifically at the overall costs, which is a job for the appropriators when they decide how money is distributed. Our key objective was to make sure that immersive technologies were recognised alongside others that are most frequently prioritised.
It’s sort of a clique of technologies, if you will: advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, advanced communications, biotechnology, and others. Those are the technologies which come to mind most frequently when lawmakers think about providing funding for emerging and advanced technologies. Our belief is that immersive technology will have an impact, at a similar level, to those other technologies.
As before, we need to recognise that now so we’re investing, and are not caught off guard or in a position where we have to be different to other countries who have made these investments in terms of setting both technical and ethical standards.
The main objective was to get us into that group of technologies, which we did. There’s a list of ten key technology focus areas in the bill, and our goal was to get immersive technology into that list. We feel like that’s a big step forward and that we’ve sort of made it to the Big Leagues now, and lawmakers understand the importance or the significance of this technology.
It wasn’t a matter of lawmakers excluding it or intentionally leaving it out. It was just really a lack of awareness and education, which we’re working very hard to change.
XR Today: Can you give us a list of the lawmakers that are most involved in the Act, and what specific steps they have been taking in Congress?
Joan O’Hara: The bill has now passed the Senate, in early June. It was a bipartisan bill overwhelmingly passed, so that’s a good sign, and I think despite the rancour and disagreement on a lot of issues, lawmakers can agree that emerging technology and US competitiveness are important, regardless of what side of the aisle you’re on, so, we’re very pleased to be part of a bipartisan bill.
That’s now up to the House to determine how they want to proceed. They can either pick up the USICA as it is, or they can put forward their own bills, and at this point, it’s looking like the latter approach will be the way that they go.
There are several bills addressing both technological development and US competitiveness in the House. The House would pass those bills and then the Senate and the House would conference to come up with an agreement on a bill to put forward to the President for his signature.
That remains to be seen as they’ve got to get through this infrastructure situation first. That’s on the mind for everybody right now, but we’re expecting that in the fall, when Members [of the House] and Senators return from the August recess, that they’ll take up this issue again. We’re really excited to see where it goes, but it’s looking good, because lawmakers agree that this needs to be a priority.
XR Today: Which brands are included in this bill and how are they helping to pass the USICA? Are there any other organisations involved?
Joan O’Hara: This was, I am proud to say, an XRA effort. We’re really the only trade association that focuses on immersive technology [in the US] at this point.
This was our initiative, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to get the language into the bill, but we’re not picking winners and losers or advocating for a particular hardware manufacturer or software developer.
We want to see the XR industry advance as a whole. There’s going to be benefit across a broad spectrum, and yes, there will be big tech companies that potentially stand to benefit.
There will also be startups, and there are many, many startups out there focusing on this technology. There are software developers and a whole community of developers making applications for everything from manufacturing, the automotive industry, to educational and healthcare tools.
There are also the universities putting that investment in research – close to 50 universities in the United States – that have some type of programme focused on immersive technology, and that’s where a lot of really great research is being done.
We really are very pleased to hopefully help advance the work that’s being done at those universities, and many of the actual researchers at universities and colleges across the country supported our effort.
They signed onto a letter to the Senate advocating the inclusion of immersive technologies in the Endless Frontiers Act. They support us and in turn, were supporting them and hope to see that, if this bill passes, it will benefit the entire ecosystem, not anyone in particular.
XR Today: We have other countries that are involved in their own projects, such as China, who recently passed 1.4 trillion in funds for their Made in China programme for their emerging tech initiative. The European Commission has also launched its [XR] for All Europe programme that also aims to build key technologies across the continent.
The UK has its own assessment, which is the Tech Nations 2021 report. They’re investing a lot of venture capital, and I think that they are the third largest in the world at the moment. So, for the United States, how is the new tech race reshaping the world, and what are the consequences of failing to keep up with international competitors?
Joan O’Hara: Well, this this bill is a step in the right direction in terms of what you mentioned other countries are doing, and competition is a good thing that helps to drive progress.
That’s how we ended up with the best products, I think, so competition in and of itself is a positive. But first and foremost, we want to make sure that the technology, as it develops, and as it is adopted, reflects the values of user privacy, the best interest of the user, accessibility, democratisation, and that it’s used for societal good. So that’s an incentive for us to take a lead in the United States.
[Regarding] the consequences if we fall behind, I think then you have to defer to others, as standards and components are developed, and hardware and software become more sophisticated and more mature. That would not be a good position for the US to find itself in.
It’s important that the United States remains a leader in this space as we have a lot of brilliant minds, especially in technology [hubs] in Seattle and California. We want to make sure we’re supporting those efforts and brilliant minds to be able to come up with new ideas for society’s benefit.
In terms of the competition, again, it’s good to have that and there are countries that we want to partner with to share information and ideas, but, first and foremost, as this technology becomes more ubiquitous, it’s really important that it reflects the right kind of objectives and values.
For more information and updates, kindly visit the XR Association.