The conference will also feature the launch of Coventry University's Second Life island and highly visual and interactive demonstrations including presentations from the Institute's industry and academic partners. Among those addressing the conference are Cisco, Forterra, Linden Labs, Giunti Labs, Daden ltd, Ambient Performance, PA Consulting, IBM, and Trusim.

"The extraordinary success of virtual worlds such as -˜Second Life' as virtual social spaces for play is leading us to examine the potential for the serious uses of these worlds," said the SGI's director David Wortley. "The theme for this first Serious Virtual Worlds conference is -˜The Reality of the Virtual World' it examines how virtual worlds are now being used for serious professional purposes."

The conference aims to attract professionals with interests in using technology for communication and collaboration; education and training; scenario planning, and for commercial activities, as well as from corporates, the media, multimedia development organisations, public sector organisations, consultancies, technology solution providers, and researchers.

"SGI is focusing on virtual worlds and immersive environments because these are key elements for serious games-, Wortley explained. -œThe SGI is going to be the place in Europe to find expertise in virtual environments as applied to learning - especially as they are used to link virtual and real environments."

"Giunti Labs are proposing to supply the tools, training, and support to enable the creation and repurposing of content using its authoring suite and to test extended third- party deployment via this test suite. They are also offering the requisite training and support", said Angus Turpin, manager for Giunti Labs UK and Ireland.

"We're delighted to be joining with Cisco and Ambient Performance - both world leaders in their fields - to help the SGI to demonstrate the latest, state-of-the-art learning technology. Learning via virtual worlds represents a quantum leap for eLearning technology, and it's heartening to see the SGI take a lead in promoting this, not just in the UK but also within Europe."