First there was the Shakespeare Festival, then there was Justin Bieber, and now The University of Waterloo’s Stratford Campus is putting the town of 30,000 on the map once again with the announcement of its exclusive Gamification 2013 conference.
Held in co-operation with he Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machinery, the University of Waterloo will bring top international talent to its Stratford campus between October 2nd and 4th.
The conference seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and business opportunity when it comes to using game design elements in non-game contexts, such as healthcare, education, financial services, entertainment, and retail.
The recently announced keynote speakers will include Dallas-based designer, consultant, and author Stephen P. Anderson, as well as Amy Jo Kim, a designer who has worked for such brands as Netflix, Rock Band, eBay, Yahoo! and Ultima Online.
“Games are ubiquitous, mutating fast, and becoming embedded in many aspects of everyday life,” said Amy Jo Kim in a press release. “The Gamification 2013 conference will allow us to plug entire industries into potentially transformational new opportunities in social gaming and design.”
More than 50 per cent of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes by 2015, according to IT research firm Gartner, Inc. Gartner also predicts that by next year Gamification for consumer goods will be as vital for customer retention and consumer goods marketing as Facebook, eBay, or Amazon.