Open Access

Anna Wolters, Nico Hakenes, Friedrich Chasin, Dennis M. Riehle

• In a human-centered society 5.0, participation in events such as trade fairs and academic conferences should fit the consumer’s profile and enable restriction-free participation by addressing potential economic, spatial, temporal, and individual constraints. Global challenges that have emerged or intensified in the past few years have caused a transformation in the event industry. Solutions thatIn a human-centered society 5.0, participation in events such as trade fairs and academic conferences should fit the consumer’s profile and enable restriction-free participation by addressing potential economic, spatial, temporal, and individual constraints. Global challenges that have emerged or intensified in the past few years have caused a transformation in the event industry. Solutions that make the industry more resilient to future global challenges are now being explored. Within this transformation, the shift from physical to digital spaces gained importance. However, creating an environment that can satisfy the participants’ needs in interaction and immersion remains a challenge for both, academia and the event industry. This paper introduces an integration framework for game engine technologies and event management systems to enable restriction-free participation while strengthening the collaboration between participants in a virtual event. The use of the integration framework is demonstrated in an industry setting where a state-of-the-art game engine accessed through browser technologies is used to recreate a physical conference venue and populate it with content from an open-source event management information system.…