Immersive technologies for audiences of the future: new funding
£33 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund will support immersive technologies, with opportunities for businesses and researchers to work together.
The audience of the future.
New immersive technologies such as virtual, augmented and mixed reality are changing how we experience the world around us – from entertainment to art, to shops and classrooms.
There will be opportunities for UK-based creative businesses, researchers and technology experts to apply for funding to work together and create striking new experiences to captivate the public.
This is government’s announcement that it will invest £33 million to as part of its ambition to grow the artificial intelligence and data-driven economy - one of its 4 grand challenges under the Industrial Strategy Fund, part of government’s Industrial Strategy.
Transforming audience experiences and growing market share
It will draw on the expertise of the UK research base and leading industry to fundamentally change products and services in the next 20 years, and transform how we experience the world.
Those funded through the challenge will create new products and services by adopting, exploiting and developing immersive technologies. They will capture the world’s attention and grow the UK’s market position in creative content.
Business Secretary, Greg Clark announced the funding today, which is one element of government’s Creative Industries Sector Deal.
3 areas of investment
The funding will be invested in:
- a demonstrator programme that will fund industry-led consortia in the creative industries to create new immersive experiences and test them with large-scale audiences
- research and development projects to deliver insights into audience perceptions and behaviours, improve the production of high-quality content and attract new private capital into this emerging sector
- a new centre - part-funded through the creative industries clusters programme - that will develop cutting-edge creative training and research programmes in immersive storytelling
Find out about funding
The funding programme for the challenge will run in 2018 and 2019. There will be various opportunities for businesses to apply into over the 2 years.
It will be made available through UK Research and Innovation, which becomes an official organisation on 1 April 2018, bringing together the 7 research councils, Innovate UK and Research England.
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