Six Participating Companies and Disney Executives Discuss Exciting Technologies and Innovative Collaborations
Burbank, Calif., November 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Today, The Walt Disney Company hosted its 2022 Disney Accelerator Demo Day, showcasing the six companies in this year’s Disney Accelerator program that are focused on building the future of immersive experiences. The Demo Day presentation brought together more than 15 senior executives from The Walt Disney Company in conversation with the founders of the six growth-stage companies, as they discussed innovation and new technologies, and the impact that they could have on Disney.
Demo Day is a celebration of the annual Disney Accelerator, a business development program designed to accelerate the growth of innovative companies around the world. Since the launch of the Accelerator in 2014, Disney has continued to work with many Disney Accelerator participating companies to bring exciting products and new technologies to market. Companies in this year’s program focus on a range of technologies in areas such as augmented reality (AR), non-fungible Tokens (NFT) and artificial intelligence (AI) virtual characters.
Disney has always used new technologies to enable world-class storytelling and help redefine and advance entertainment. As the company focuses on its next-generation storytelling efforts, Disney will continue to explore how these types of new canvases and techniques can help create connected experiences across the physical, digital, and virtual worlds.
“For nearly a hundred years, Disney has embraced cutting-edge technology to stay at the forefront of creative storytelling and deliver the most innovative entertainment experiences to audiences and guests around the world,” said Bonnie Rosen, general manager of the Disney Accelerator program. “This commitment to advancement is also an integral part of the Disney Accelerator, which allows us to partner with exceptional growth-stage companies like those in this year’s class who share our desire to redefine the media landscape. We hope that Demo Day is just the beginning of our relationship with these companies, and we can’t wait to see the amazing things we could build together for Disney fans.”
Disney Accelerator 2022 companies include:
Flickplay: Flickplay is a Web3 social app that allows users to discover digital collectibles related to real-life locations that they can discover and share via AR. Flickplay is in talks with Disney Consumer Products, Games and Publishing (CPGP) to create and provide collectible digital activations in physical locations across the United States.
Inworld AI: Inworld allows users to create interactive AI-driven characters for immersive experiences. Today, Inworld announced that it is in talks with ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s immersive storytelling studio, to create development tools for creating large-scale characters in immersive worlds. Additionally, Inworld is exploring the development of an AI personality for DisneyStar’s DisneyStarverse platform. During today’s demo day, Inworld showcased a “Droid Maker” prototype that the company created in collaboration with ILMxLAB.
Lockerverse: Lockerverse is a community platform that empowers creators and brands to tell culture-defining stories and provide unique access and experiences. Lockerverse is working with ESPN to launch a free Celebration Bowl Trophy NFT, which will be exclusively offered for the first time at the Celebration Bowl on December 17 in Atlanta.
Obsess: Obsess is an experiential e-commerce platform that allows brands to create immersive 3D virtual stores on their websites and on Web3 platforms. In early October, Obsess launched the Disney Music Emporium virtual experience, an immersive online store celebrating the wonders of Disney music. Obsess is also in talks with Disneyland Resort and shopDisney to create a special retail experience.
Polygon: Polygon is a business layer for blockchain technology that enables developers and enterprises to create Web3 experiences. Polygon is working with Disney on developing a proof of concept for exclusive digital collectibles to recognize Disney employees on special occasions.
Red 6: Red 6 is an AR company that has created a patented headset and interface that works outdoors in dynamic, high-performance environments. Walt Disney Imagineering and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) are exploring the possibilities of integrating this technology into our story-driven environments for next-generation experiences of the future.
Following today’s presentations, the Disney Accelerator brought Web3 to life on the Walt Disney Studios grounds for attendees by showcasing exclusive demonstrations of the 2021 and 2022 Disney Accelerator companies, including life-size versions of the NFTs. popular Disney collectibles and a special Flickplay scavenger hunt that allowed participants to find and interact with digital Disney collectibles.
For the first time, Disney Accelerator companies from the previous year attended the demo day and showcased their recent technologies and collaborations with The Walt Disney Company for guests. These companies included:
Attentive: Attentive is a comprehensive mobile messaging platform that enables retail and e-commerce brands to connect directly with consumers through personalized communication experiences. This summer, Attentive launched an opt-in experience to provide Disney customers with a seamless opportunity to communicate with Disney Theatrical Productions via text and email through www.aladdinthemusical.com.
CAMP: CAMP creates experiential retail stores and online media destinations for the whole family. CAMP launched two collaborations with Disney this year, “Disney’s Mickey and Friends x CAMP: An Extra Big Adventure,” now in dallaswhile New York City families are enjoying the magical “Disney Encanto x CAMP” at its flagship store this holiday season. These immersive and interactive collaborations travel to other CAMP locations every few months.
miko: Miko creates adorable robots that are playful learning companions for children in over 140 countries and used by parents, educators and technologists. Earlier this year, Miko collaborated with Disney Publishing to release animated storybooks featuring characters from the worlds of Disney and Pixar on its Miko 3 robot.
For more information about the Disney Accelerator, visit: www.DisneyAccelerator.com.
contacts:
Kirsten Underwood
Disney Accelerator Communications
kirsten.underwood@disney.com
Colby Colodner
Business communication
colby.b.colodner@disney.com
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SOURCEWalt Disney Company
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