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IBIT News

Investigating the entrepreneurial potential of immersive applications

Ethan Berg wants to help people build new worlds — professional-quality immersive, 3D spaces and experiences — without any coding skills. Berg (FOX ’20) is the CEO and co-founder of the startup Agora World Inc which offers a drag and drop no-code design space to create spaces for the metaverse.

Berg and Agora won Temple’s Idea Competition in 2021 as well as the Digital Innovation Award from the Digital Innovation Foundry (DIF), which included access to talent and resources. Today, Agora’s no-code platform accommodates users of all experience levels, from professional designers to those with minimal design background, making it an accessible solution for creating professional-quality 3D content and immersive social experiences,” Berg says. “What used to take a team, investment, and months to create now can be created quickly with no code.”   Berg quickly saw the value of DIF talent and resources, to “study this space and get a better understanding of where we’re headed and where we can go.”

Over six months in 2022, the DIF team of Druvakumar Valugubelly (FOX MIS ’22) and Mitchel Zilbershteyn (FOX MIS ’24) supervised by Solon Moreira, Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship applied Agora’s platform to explore commercial metaverse applications.

Moreira’s DIF team applied design science research to prototype solutions for three different business problems. The goal was to investigate applications with entrepreneurial potential that are technically and practically feasible for companies. And identify the requirements and resources that companies will need to enact an entrepreneurial metaverse strategy.

The team built three prototype spaces a mall, a neighborhood, and an outdoor concert venue. Visitors to these spaces might shop, go house hunting, or attend a music festival. Moreira explains that a real estate agent could use the neighborhood space to showcase homes in a planned development. Before the foundation of a new house is even poured, a potential buyer could look at the view from “their” balcony. “It was exciting for the Temple team to be part of something that will dramatically change and shape the world of business,” Moreira says.

The team presented Berg with valuable feedback, and he was impressed by the “amazing” spaces they built. Valugubelly says he enjoyed the chance to work with LiDAR 3D scanning for the Agora project. “This project helped me better understand how software iteration and testing work,” he adds. Zilbershteyn, says that DIF provides “a valuable connection to industry experts, and the opportunity to engage with professors on research.” “As we continue to evolve, collaborating with the DIF team has provided valuable insights, helping us refine our platform and better serve the diverse needs of our users,” Berg says.

The DIF project also generated new research. Moreira worked with Executive Director and Professor Munir Mandviwalla on a manuscript – “Exploring Entrepreneurship in the Metaverse: Design Requirements and Resources” – which has been accepted at the 18th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST 2023). Going forward, DIF is collaborating with Agora on additional research and is hosting an integrated industry-research workshop on the business application of metaverses, AR, VR, MR, and digital twins.

The mission of DIF, part of the Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT), is to generate innovation by assessing, integrating, and prototyping digital technologies in collaboration with industry, startups, faculty, and students. See: https://ibit.temple.edu/DIF

Learn more about Agora at: https://agoravr.world/

Digitally transforming peer-to-peer car buying and selling

Yousif Memon’s (CST ’17) passion for cars has transformed into an app that is transforming peer-to-peer purchasing of automobiles.

Kuaay began in 2020 when Memon returned to Temple University for Techstars’ “Startup Weekend.” He, along with Keenan Hawekotte, won the competition for their pitch which evolved into Kuaay – a peer-to-peer car buying platform.

Since then, according to Memom we’ve added payment transfer, DMV docs for all 50 states, VIN check, vehicle valuation tools, and shipping to the app. That means the next time I go out to buy a car, my phone is all I need. No more paper and pens, no waiting for the bank to open, and no begging friends and family for rides. I can get the car home and register right on my phone.

IBIT’s Digital Innovation Foundry (DIF) connected with Kuaay through their entry into Temple’s Idea Competition. DIF’s initial goal was to assist Kuaay on implementation and platform architecture. DIF brought in Stephen Hullender, now a recent Temple Computer Science graduate (CST’22), to lead the implementation of a key enabler for Kuaay – notary capabilities.

Now, Hullender has expanded his role into design and navigation and developing algorithms to ease transactions between two parties, especially across state lines. Learning how a mobile app works and contributing to the app’s development improved my confidence. I was able to obtain a wide breadth of knowledge in software development and architecting a solution.

Memon notes we came out of the gate solving niche problems for real people and are on the way to solve bigger problems for even more people by digitizing the entire purchase, shipping, and registration cycle associated with peer-to-peer car buying. Memon added that DIF support and platform architecture guidance has been invaluable in helping us move forward.

Manoj Chacko, Associate Director, IBIT, who manages the DIF – Kuaay relationship including providing advice on platform architecture, notes: Kuaay has the potential to completely digitize and simplify the way someone sells or purchases a used car across state lines.

Going forward, DIF is expanding its relationship with Kuaay into business mentoring and researching the used car buying market.

The mission of DIF which is part of the Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT) is to generate innovation by assessing, integrating, and prototyping digital technologies in collaboration with industry, startups, faculty and students. See: https://ibit.temple.edu/DIF

Learn more about Kuaay at: https://www.kuaay.com/

Workshop will focus on the role of metaverses, AR, VR, and digital twins

IBIT will organize an exclusive invitation only research workshop on April 28, 2023, in Philadelphia to investigate how next generation internet technologies including the metaverse, augmented reality, virtual reality, and digital twins will create a better experience for organizational products and services. 

The focus of the workshop is on strategic, entrepreneurial, design, business model, architecture, human-computer interaction, platforming, and ecosystem perspectives of the next generation internet.

The format of the workshop will provide a unique opportunity for accomplished researchers and executives to work together on how organizations can envision, source, measure, and change business models to explore and exploit commercial opportunities of the next generation internet.

For more information, visit: https://ibit.temple.edu/nextgenerationinternet/

Career Experience wins 2022 Digital Innovation Award

The Digital Innovation Foundry is pleased to announce that Career Experience is the recipient of the 2022 Digital Innovation Award in partnership with Temple University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI) Innovative Idea Competition.

Career Experience will receive $1,000 and mentorship to develop their idea for the Be Your Own Boss Bowl (BYOBB) in Spring 2023. The Digital Innovation Award is open to all Temple University students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Entries were selected by the DIF team based on the following criteria:

  • Digital – does the idea apply technology in an interesting and/or novel manner?
  • Problem – does the idea solve a real business or societal problem?
  • Practical – is the idea practically doable given current technology, context, and resources?