Avatars IRL! A New $10M XPRIZE Competition with Dr. Peter Diamandis at SXSW 2018 [Video]

During his session at SXSW 2018, Founder & Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, Dr. Peter Diamandis discussed XPRIZE's new four-year global competition focused on the development of an avatar system which would enable us to see, hear, touch, and interact with physical environments and other people, anywhere in the world. Read on and watch the full session to learn about the competition, the impact of exponential technologies on travel, and the transformation we're about to encounter.

Named one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine, Dr. Diamandis is both a serial entrepreneur and a New York Times Bestseller. In his current position at XPRIZE, Diamandis leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. In other words, Dr. Diamandis has a front row seat to the latest in tech innovation and recognizes more than anyone else that we are living in an unprecedented era of growth.

"We're living during the most extraordinary time ever in human history. It's a time where we are making the impossible possible every day." - Dr. Peter Diamandis

On-stage at SXSW, Dr. Diamandis describes what happens to businesses when they use exponential technologies and create agile business models. "We're going from 'I've got an idea!' to 'I run a billion dollar company' faster than any time in human history...every single one of you today has access to more knowledge than Presidents did 20 years ago and more computational power on the web than the Defense Department had 10 years ago." However, it is what we do with that technology that matters. With that in mind, Dr. Diamandis created XPRIZE to crowdsource solutions to the world's greatest challenges.

At the core of the Avatar XPRIZE competition is a disruptive revolution focused on an exponential change rather than a linear change to transportation. Teams are encouraged to integrate emerging and exponential technologies like robots, advanced sensors, machine learning, and more to allow an untrained operator to complete tasks in a physical environment at least 100km away. The development of Avatars would entirely transform the business model of transportation removing barriers of distance and time.

Watch the full session and learn more about XPRIZE, the future of Avatars, and adopting an exponential vs. linear mindset.

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Photo by Marie Ketring