University of Miami students among finalists at this year’s AWE XR Prize Challenge on Fighting Climate Change

The University of Miami‘s The Mangrove City project is among this year’s finalists for the AWE 2023 XR Challenge. 

Mangrove City is a VR experience designed for middle school students to explore the crucial role of mangrove forests in protecting coastal communities and mitigating climate change. The VR experience was developed by a team of University faculty, staff members, and students as a part of UM’s XR Initiative active in the fields of architecture, health care, sustainability, climate change, art history, behavioral research, human-computer interfaces, UI/UX, new media, and narrative/storytelling research.

Augmented World Expo. or AWE, launched the “XR Prize Challenge: Fight Climate Change” in October 2022. The challenge gives subject matter experts, engineers, entrepreneurs, technologists, and other professionals an avenue where they can use XR technology to visualize information and create potential solutions to fight climate change. A group or individual has a chance at winning a cash prize of $100,000.

1. Replacing Wasteful Material Consumption – For solutions that demonstrate that XR is a viable medium for reducing society’s dependence on wasteful transportation, consumption of goods, and unsustainable real estate development.
2. Visualizing The Causes & Impacts of Climate Change – For solutions that demonstrate XR’s unique ability to educate people about the causes and effects of climate change, and influence behaviors and policies to promote equity and fairness.
3. Educating About Solutions to Climate Change – For solutions that demonstrate XR as a unique story-telling medium for giving a voice to climatologists and sustainability solutions providers, providing them with a powerful platform to educate communities and expand their reach.
4. Optimizing Design & Execution of Climate Solutions – For solutions that demonstrate XR as a unique decision-optimization tool, enabling professionals to design and develop perfected solutions that give us the best possible chance to mitigate and reverse climate change.

In January 2023, with hundreds of submissions from around the world, 150 projects from six different continents were chosen to move onto the MVP Phase.” They had to demonstrate a minimum viable product and highlight to judges exactly how their solutions addressed aspects of:

1. Creativity – Entrants had to demonstrate how their submissions exhibited appropriateness, quality, beauty, design, and originality, as well as highlight the uniqueness of their XR product or project as a solution for fighting climate change.
2. Functionality – Entrants had to show how their submissions took into account a range of functional requirements, including thoughtful user experience, access, ease of use, and an innovative user interaction associated with their XR-based solutions.
3. Impact – Entrants had to quantify the impact that their XR-based solutions would have and demonstrate how they would deliver on their promise to fight climate change, including the viability of the solution in the marketplace, its ability to be scaled, and how a solution would be demonstrated or calculated to achieve its intended effect.

Then, on May 3rd,  2023, AWE announced the finalists for the XR Prize challenge – only 11 were chosen – and the University of Miami made the cut!

Dace Campbell

AWE’s website states that “many of the finalists demonstrated innovative ways in which augmented, virtual and mixed reality technology can be used to help humanity in its fight against one of the biggest existential threats that we are facing as a species today – climate change.”

“It’s humbling to work with so many diverse teams haling from all around the globe and truly inspiring to see and experience so many creative proposals to harness XR in our fight against climate change,” said Dace Campbell, XR Prize Manager, ”

Dace is a professionally licensed architect with extensive experience developing and implementing strategy and innovation with an expertise in XR technology: researching, developing, testing, and applying XR on hundreds of successful projects. Throughout his career, Dace has been a champion for the  the use of virtual reality and augmented reality in industry. He has proven they enhance productivity, sustainability, and equity for designers, builders, and owners winning multiple awards for furthering industry excellence. 

screen shot of The Mangrove City

👉🏽 Check out UM’s video here. 🎥

Each team will demonstrate their solutions at final presentations in-person in front of a live judging panel on May 30th at AWE 2023 held in Santa Clara, California. The XR Prize winner(s) will be announced on June 1 at the event during the Auggie Awards ceremony.

The judges panel includes:

• Katerina Cizek – Award-winning documentary director whose body of work includes documenting the Digital Revolution. Cizek is also the co-founder of the Co-Creation Studio.
• Robert Fine – Executive director and founder of the International Virtual Reality and Healthcare Association (IVRHA).
• Marina Psaros – Sustainability expert who has over a decade of experience leading climate action programs. Psaros is also Unity’s global sustainability lead.
• Dr. Erika Woolsey – Dr. Woolsey is a marine biologist, as well as the chief scientist and co-founder of the Hydrous, a non-profit organization that uses science-based experiences and scalable solutions, such as VR, to further our understanding of and education on ocean science.