Schedule
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➔Sun 12 March
➔Mon 13 March
➔Tue 14 March
Please use the coloured blocks above to select and navigate the our programme streams.
All times listed in CDT.
Sun 12 March
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
16:00 – 18:00
Beer and Sliders with BEYOND Conference−
Join the team from the world’s leading creative R&D conference, BEYOND for beer & sliders at our SXSW Mixer. Heading into its 6th year, the BEYOND team is in Austin to meet speakers, sponsors and potential host cities as BEYOND expands internationally. BEYOND Conference brings together a community of creative technologies, and a global audience of world-leading researchers, makers, investors, business leaders, and thinkers. RSVP and go BEYOND!
Presented by BEYOND conference in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Mon 13 March
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
09:00 – 11:00
Creative Catalyst Networking + Pop Up Showcase Breakfast −
Join Innovate UK’s UKRI Creative Catalyst delegation, for a special event to bring together like-minded creatives to network and share ideas while enjoying a delicious hot Austin breakfast. Featuring a pop-up showcase of highly innovative UK companies – disrupting the music, publishing and tech sectors – don’t miss out, RSVP now to secure your spot
UKRI Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst is a £30m programme of phased financial and non financial activities to provide end to end innovation support for high potential businesses in the creative sector.
Presented by Innovate UK in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Sahil Dhingra, Cofounder & CEO, DeepReel
Rachel Lyske, CEO, DAACI
Ali Reza, CEO, Gramrphone
Edward Rogers, Managing Director, Bristol Braille Technology CIC
Kelli Fairbrother, Co-founder and CEO, xigxag
Maple Room – 5th floor Fairmont Hotel
10:00 – 16:30
Let’s Play @ the Immersive Futures Lab−
Get playful at the Immersive Futures Lab and experience the cutting-edge of creativity and innovation. This showcase includes live demos and prototypes with representatives from the UK’s Creative Informatics, XR Stories and InGAME. Discover the ground-breaking potential of creative technology and be part of the live research and development process with some of the UK’s most exciting start-ups.
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
11:30 – 12:30
Game Tech is Transforming the World!−
Game tech is transforming the world! The Metaverse. The Holodeck. Hyper Digital Realities. Web 3… Whatever the name, whatever the hype, it’s already here, it’s just not evenly distributed. Game design and technologies are the R&D sandbox of this brave new world.
This practical and interactive workshop unpacks the principles, processes and products of the InGAME Applied Games Lab. Discover how we harness the awesome power and potential of game design and technologies to respond to provoke innovations in dairy farming, policy making and cheese tasting.
Presented by InGAME in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Chris Lowthorpe, Head of R&D, InGAME
Sean Taylor, Managing Director, InGAME
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
13:00 – 14:00
Play-in-Music: Audio Innovation Through Play−
How can we make the world a more creative and playful place using music and sound innovation? Join Ben Schogler, Founder and Creative Director of Playable Technology for an interactive session showcasing the BeatBlocks app. Learn about the psychology behind Playable Technology’s play-based approach and how they harnessed the power of machine learning to build music in real-time using Lego.
Sharing the stage will be Brendan McCarthy and Sam Healy from Ray Interactive to discuss and demo how their work bridges the gap between play and music, from scaled-up sculptures of classic synths to bespoke web-based creative applications.
Playable Technology and Ray Interactive are Scotland-based start-ups with exciting products that allow users to experiment and innovate with sound and audio.
Presented by Creative Informatics in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Sam Healy, Technical Director, Ray Interactive
Brendan McCarthy, Designer, Ray Interactive
Ben Schogler, Creative Director, Playable Technology Limited
David Skulina, CTO, Playable Technology Ltd
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
14:30 – 15:30
Making XR for All: Creative R&D for Public Spaces−
What are the challenges and benefits of producing XR projects for public spaces – especially when they are experimental.
Attendees will hear case studies of UK projects that push (and find) (and break!) the boundaries for experimental experiences in public spaces.
Presented by XR Stories in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Nikki Stearman, Creative Producer, XR Stories
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
16:00 – 17:00
Engine Room: Creative Economies Powering Innovation Around the World−
How can creativity act as a catalyst for cultural, social, economic and environmental development? Investment in the creative industries is a key driver of growth with the potential to generate cross-sector innovation and change. Join Edinburgh-based Creative Informatics for a discussion of how the UK Government’s investment in research and development for the creative industries is bringing extraordinary economic benefit and the opportunity for creatives to focus on tomorrow’s innovations, along with solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.
We’ll be sharing highlights from the Creative Clusters programme and making the case for creativity and ongoing creative investment with guest speakers from UK-based R&D programmes including John Rose-Adams, Senior Creative Producer from XR Stories, Sean Taylor, Managing Director of InGame.and other Scotland-based entrepreneurs.
After the discussion, you can head to the Immersive Futures Lab to experiment and get hands-on with the exciting interactives from Creative Informatics’ four showcased companies: Playable Tech, Ray Interactive, SENSEcity and Black Goblin.
Presented by Creative Informatics in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Victoria Murray, Project and Engagement Manager, Creative Informatics
John Rose-Adams, Creative Producer, XR Stories
Sean Taylor, Managing Director, InGAME
Courtney Bates, Programme and Finance Administrator, Creative Informatics
Tue 14 March
Maple Room – 5th floor Fairmont Hotel
10:00 – 16:30
Let’s Create @ the Immersive Futures Lab−
Get creative at the Immersive Futures Lab where you can interact with demos of ground-breaking projects and early-stage prototypes of immersive experiences and content creation tools. Be part of live research and development work with representatives from the UK’s Creative Informatics, XR Stories and InGAME showcasing some of the UK’s most exciting creative companies and their innovative new products.
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
10:00 – 11:00
Culture and Content in the Metaverse−
However else you may define the Metaverse, a central element will be social interactions. Given the mixed track record of social media, and recurring reports of anti-social behaviour in today’s social virtual worlds, we might well be wary. Will it be a whole new world full of bullies and ad-bots, only now in 3D? What would it take to build a better Metaverse?
The panel will discuss recent research and innovation in industry and explore some critical elements to this issue: What do younger audiences want? What kinds of experiences do we care about? Where and how will marginalised communities be represented? How can we enable culture, rather than commerce, to shape these social spaces of the future? And where can commerce, creativity and culture meet to make the Metaverse something we can be proud of?
Presented by XR Stories in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Anna Bramwell-Dicks, Research Fellow / Lecturer, XR Stories
David Gochfeld, Research Fellow, XR Stories
Nikki Stearman, Creative Producer, XR Stories
Rob Eagle, Research Fellow, XR Stories
Guy Gadney, Founder & CEO, Charisma AI
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
11:30 – 12:30
Building Worlds: Audio and AR Journeys −
Meet two Scotland-based developers who are creating worlds through audio and AR while developing tools to make content creation a more accessible and creative process. Pooja Katara from SENSEcity will showcase the Historiscope, a next generation viewing scope that brings history back to life at heritage sites by allowing visitors to explore the area using AR. Pooja will discuss the Historiscope’s launch at Stirling Castle in Scotland and how visitors have responded to, and used, the tool.
Black Goblin is a sound research and technology company on a quest to transform the way creators work with sound. Gabrielle Haley and Ana Betancourt from Black Goblin will demonstrate their collaboration platform that enables creators to innovate sound using only their computers. This streamlines labour-intensive parts of the sound design process, allowing a greater focus on the artistic aspect of sound creation.
After the discussion, you can head to the Immersive Futures Lab to experiment and get hands-on with these exciting interactive tools.
Presented by Creative Informatics in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Ana Betancourt, Co-founder and Head of Sound Innovations, Black Goblin
Gabrielle Haley, Director / Head of Sound Design, Black Goblin
Pooja Katara, Founder, SENSEcity Ltd
Tiomóid Foley, Historiscope Project Manager and Heritage Advisor, SENSEcity
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
13:00 – 14:00
Virtual Production Beyond the Hype−
Conference and festivals, studios and fans are giddy at the content being produced on virtual production LED stages, and the technology is evolving rapidly.
Beyond this hype, lie important critical reflections on Sustainability: How ‘green’ are these technologies, and are there enough skilled people to drive them? Diversity: Who is on set making these shows, and who are we seeing on our screens? And Efficiency: Is it more cost effective to shoot VP? If so, when, and what is the opportunity cost?
In this short session, UK researchers will reflect on findings from one of the first global virtual production research projects and set out a broad research agenda for the industry.
Presented by XR Stories in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Nina Willment, Research Associate, XR Stories
Cypress Room, 5th Floor, Fairmont Hotel
14:30 – 15:30
Game Tech is Transforming the World!−
Game tech is transforming the world! The Metaverse. The Holodeck. Hyper Digital Realities. Web 3… Whatever the name, whatever the hype, it’s already here, it’s just not evenly distributed. Game design and technologies are the R&D sandbox of this brave new world.
This practical and interactive workshop unpacks the principles, processes and products of the InGAME Applied Games Lab. Discover how we harness the awesome power and potential of game design and technologies to respond to provoke innovations in dairy farming, policy making and cheese tasting.
Presented by InGAME in partnership with the Creative Economy Team.
Chris Lowthorpe, Head of R&D, InGAME
Sean Taylor, Managing Director, InGAME
Cedar Street Courtyard
16:30 – 18:00
UK Immersive Takeover−
Meet the hosts and participants of the UK Immersive Takeover including producers, directors, curators, funders and collaborators for networking drinks and live music from fast-rising UK acts Desta French and Folly Group.
Presented in partnership with Arts Council England, British Council, Immersive Futures Lab, BFI, British Underground