Join us to hear about photonics & optics breakthroughs that will shape the future
Our invited speakers are distinguished technology and business leaders from cutting-edge companies and institutions. They are at the forefront of AR/VR innovation, leveraging photonics to build transformative products and solutions that will define industry trends for the next decade
Location: Computer History Museum
Mountain View, CA, USA
Virtual@Zoom
3:00 - 3:25
Metin Ozen, CEO of Ozen
Jim Kafka, President Elect of Optica
3:25 - 3:55
Smart glasses require lightweight, power-efficient displays. While existing technologies like LBS, DLP, and LCoS are common, high brightness micro-OLED and micro-LED panels offer promising alternatives. The optimal display technology depends on the overall system architecture and must prioritize all three comfort pillars: wearable, visual and social. Smart glasses are primarily eyewear, with digital features secondary to fashion and vision correction. Unlike AR/XR headsets, which target different markets, smart glasses prioritize all-day wearability
Bernard Kress, Google Inc
3:55 - 4:25
AR and VR are reshaping medicine, by enabling advances in surgical precision, diagnostics, prehospital care, rehabilitation, and patient monitoring. From guiding paramedics in emergencies to enhancing imaging during surgeries, these technologies show immense promise. However, challenges like hardware constraints, software integration, and accessibility limit broader adoption. This talk will explore their current applications, identify critical gaps, and propose future directions to fully realize their potential in transforming healthcare delivery.
Rayan Harari, Harvard Medical School
4:25 - 4:55
True augmented reality requires convergence of all natural visual perception. Headsets and smart glasses have driven tremendous growth in optical physics and perception to provide this experience. In parallel, headset-free virtual devices are a novel platform for enhancing comfort and introducing new modalities of ARVR applications, and they have led to innovations in optics, vision science, and AI-generative content to deliver a new type of frictionless immersion. This talk will discuss the roadmap from virtual display hardware to multi-layered and AI-curated content, while emphasizing access, comfort, and immersion
Yushin Kim, Brelyon
4:55 - 5:55
Speakers
Dr. Bernard Kress is a leading expert in optics and photonics with over 25 years of experience. He has contributed to advancements in optical computing, optical telecom and AR/VR/MR. A prolific author and inventor, he holds over 100 patents and has written numerous research papers and books. He is the 2023 President of SPIE and chairs key conferences on AR/VR/MR and Digital Optical Technologies. Bernard has held executive positions at Google and Microsoft and currently leads XR Engineering at Google AR.
Dr. Rayan. Harari is a Faculty Member at Harvard Medical School, affiliated with several research groups including the Quantitative Musculoskeletal Imaging Group Research (Q-MIG), the Medical AI and Cognitive Engineering group, and the STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation at Mass General Brigham-Harvard Medical School. With a multidisciplinary foundation in Systems Engineering, Cognitive Science, and Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Harari’s research advances AI-driven clinical decision support, generative AI, medical imaging processing, computer vision, and wearable technologies for precision medicine and high-stakes healthcare applications. His work has resulted in over 50 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals. Additionally, he has delivered over 40 presentations at leading conferences, including CHI, MICCAI, HFES, STS, and IEEE events. These contributions in AI, augmented and virtual reality, multimodal data integration, and trustworthy, explainable AI (xAI) push the frontiers of AI’s role in enhancing clinical performance and resilience in challenging environments. Leading and collaborating on projects exceeding $6 million in funding—from NIH, NASA, DoD, NSF, and Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation —Dr. Harari has developed pioneering xAI and AI-AR solutions for real-time decision-making in complex settings, from hospitals to space missions and military operations .
Dr. Yushin Kim is a Senior Optical Engineer at Brelyon, a pioneering startup revolutionizing immersive experiences with headset-less displays. Over 10 years of academic experience in fundamental physics and optics, including three years as Post-doctoral Researcher at Stanford University. His expertise lies in polarization engineering for highly sensitive optical detection, leveraging supercontinuum and spectral encoding techniques, metamaterials, transformation optics, and photonic crystals
About OZENCON
OZENCON, a leading conference in utilizing simulation to advance product development, showcases cutting-edge developments in the simulation of structural, thermal, fluid, electromagnetic fields, and optics and photonics. Join industry leaders and innovators for insightful discussions and networking opportunities. This one-day conference will provide detailed insights into how leading companies are utilizing simulation to enhance their product development processes. We will bring together ANSYS users, partners, developers, and industry experts for networking, learning, and the sharing of new ideas. Attendees are welcome to join OzenCon earlier in the day.
