VR/AR Through the Transatlantic Lens

On May 29, 2018 the RBFAA co-hosted a Regional Event at Pillsbury Law in Palo Alto, CA on VR/AR Technology through the Transatlantic Lens. The event included a fiesta dinner reception and networking with RBFAA alumni, local Transatlantic leaders, and participants on the BOSCH VR/AR Study Tour, which had brought 10 Bosch alumni from various programs to California for Augmented World Expo 2018 that same week.

The event began with a warm welcome by new Northern California ACG Warburg Chapter President and location host, Thomas Gump (RBFAA XXIII) who pointed to the fellowship as an enduring community of friends and colleagues throughout his career. The main event was a fireside chat with Rika Nakazawa, VP of Strategy and Partnerships from Atheer, a leading augmented reality platform for enterprise based in Silicon Valley, and Wolfgang Stelzle, CEO and Founder of RE’FLEKT, a Munich-based augmented reality enterprise platform. The fireside chat was moderated by Emily Olman (XXV), VR/AR Association San Francisco Co-President and outgoing RBFAA board member.

Knowing that AR & VR are poised to transform every industry in the coming years, and to have wide-ranging effects on the workplace, even displacing trained professionals in certain jobs, it was a great opportunity to dig in deeper to the technology and to understand how German companies are playing a role in this transformation, and to what degree US and German companies are working together. The event enabled a lively discussion, and a great West Coast networking event just prior to the Annual Meeting in Berlin, which reunited several attendees from this event only three weeks later.

The event also activated the growing West Coast contingent of Transatlantic leaders and Bosch Alumni. In attendance were also Jennifer Conti-Davies (XVII), members of the Invest in Bavaria team, and investor Oliver Hanish. Furthermore, it provided an opportunity for alumni of other Bosch programs to get to know RBFAA alumni from the greater Bosch Alumni Network (BAN), since there were 10 participants on the study tour from various cohorts attending.

Thank you to the generous sponsors, the RBFAA, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Pillsbury Law, The American Council on Germany, the Bosch Alumni Network, and the German American Business Alliance for making this event a great success.

Pictured from left: Carrie Mann (XXV), Trooper Sanders (XIX), Wolfgang Stelzle (RE’FLEKT), Emily Olman (XXV), Clark Parsons (XIV), Rashida Bobb (XXXII), Thomas Gump (XXIII), Rika Nakazawa (Atheer), Michael Bocchini (XXV), Kim Ochs (XXII), Dave Netz (V)