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College House, 32-36 College Green, Bristol, BS1 5SP

Ideate Plymouth

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Applications now open.

Are you interested in engaging your audience or customers in new ways? Do you have an immersive idea you want to get off the ground?

Ideate Plymouth is a new programme for businesses based in and around Plymouth looking to create immersive products and experiences. The programme is now open for applications.

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What is immersive?

Immersive is about enhancing experiences to make them more engaging, efficient and/or understandable.

This can cover a wide range of both mediums and sectors from a virtual reality experience which helps a patient to understand a complex health condition to data visualisation in an immersive dome theatre to a powerful story told in 360 video.

Immersive experiences often involve blending the physical and digital worlds with technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, binaural audio, location tracking and projection mapping but can take a wide range of formats.

What is Ideate Plymouth?

Ideate Plymouth offers businesses and individuals support to create immersive products and experiences which will enhance and grow their business. As part of the programme participants will spend 10 hours one to one with a consultant who will help them to develop their immersive idea.

This programme has cross sector appeal and is ideal for businesses who are already working on an immersive technology product or who are new to the area. We are particularly keen to welcome applications from the following sectors:

  • Education including products and experiences which enhance learning or skills development in a classroom, community or business environment
  • Marine including experience which enhance training, visualisation and safety. The Smart Sound which infrastructure which Plymouth also offers unique opportunities for innovation.
  • Health – including medical and wellbeing experiences which facilitate patient understanding, enhance treatments and provide a safe space to explore mental health
  • Entertainment – including storytelling through film, games, theatre and more.

If you are working on an immersive idea which falls outside of these sectors please get in touch as we may still be able to support you.

If you are chosen to take part in Ideate Plymouth you will receive:

  • Ten hours of one-to-one support from an immersive expert and/or a business growth mentor.
  • Access to immersive focussed networking, roundtables and events.
  • Targeted business growth support to help accelerate your immersive idea to market.

Is this programme for me?

Ideate Plymouth is made for you if:

  • You, your business or your client is based in Plymouth or it’s surrounding area.

And

  • You are currently working on an immersive product/service OR you are interested in immersive and how it can be used in your business.

It’s as simple as that!

Apply here

Meet the mentors

Avril Furness - Furness Films

Avril is an award winning Virtual Reality, 360 and film producer, director and creative director. In a past life, Avril worked in the advertising industry for 10 years, first as EA to Lord Maurice Saatchi at M&C Saatchi then moving into Account Management before becoming a Creative, working at Ad agencies Fallon and Wieden+Kennedy.

Chris Hunt – Controlled Frenzy

Christopher Hunt is a creative technologist and builder of rather cool things. Chris works with clients across all industries to develop engaging audience-focused technology prototypes, products, and installations to explore their data and ideas so they can grow and adapt to new ways of working, communicating and doing business.

Rupert Lorraine - University of Plymouth

Development and Partnership Manager for Research and Innovation and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business at the University of Plymouth. Responsible for leading the development of The Bridge – which brings together staff, students and strategic partners to fuse the region’s creative talent and digital resources.

Avril is an award winning Virtual Reality, 360 and film producer, director and creative director. In a past life, Avril worked in the advertising industry for 10 years, first as EA to Lord Maurice Saatchi at M&C Saatchi then moving into Account Management before becoming a Creative, working at Ad agencies Fallon and Wieden+Kennedy.

Christopher Hunt is a creative technologist and builder of rather cool things. Chris works with clients across all industries to develop engaging audience-focused technology prototypes, products, and installations to explore their data and ideas so they can grow and adapt to new ways of working, communicating and doing business.

Development and Partnership Manager for Research and Innovation and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business at the University of Plymouth. Responsible for leading the development of The Bridge – which brings together staff, students and strategic partners to fuse the region’s creative talent and digital resources.

Seth White - Volume

Seth White is the Head of Immersive Experiences at Volume.  He leads a very experienced development team with a background in learning products.  In 2015 Seth’s team switched focus to immersive technology, and have been developing VR/MR/AR solutions for global clients ever since.  You’ll find examples of their work here: https://www.casestudies.volume.ai/

Catherine Allen - Limina Immersive

Catherine Allen is one of the UK’s leading figures in creative virtual reality. 

 

Her company, Limina Immersive have brought meaningful, cultural VR to thousands of audience members who wouldn’t have otherwise experienced this new art form. They have done this through three years of VR festivals, pop ups and a 6-month VR theatre on Bristol’s Harbourside. Through doing this, Limina has learned what audiences want from both the content and the overall experience. The team now share this knowledge with the emerging sector. 

 

As a VR industry leader, Allen’s work is known for bringing VR to broader audiences who wouldn’t describe themselves as early adopters. She was part of the BAFTA’s VR advisory team, has judged VR for a range of international film festivals and has authored industry reports for public sector funding bodies. Catherine produced the BBC’s first commissioned VR documentary, the award-winning Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel, which has toured festivals globally, showed for six weeks at the National Theatre in London and was described by Broadcast Magazine as ‘genre-defining’. 

 

Before VR, Catherine worked at the educational app publisher, Touch Press; winning a BAFTA on the Disney Animated app, with Disney Interactive. 

Sarah Ellis - Royal Shakespeare Company

Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer currently working as Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company to explore new artistic initiatives and partnerships.

In 2017, she became a fellow of the University of Worcester for her work in the arts and technology. In 2016 she was awarded The Hospital Club & Creatives Industries award for cross industry collaboration for her work on the RSC’s The Tempest in collaboration with Intel and in association with The Imaginarium Studios.

In 2013 she was listed in the top 100 most influential people working in Gaming and Technology by The Hospital Club and Guardian Culture Professionals. In partnership with Google, she produced Midsummer Night’s Dreaming winning two Lovie Awards for Innovation and Experimentation.

In 2012, she produced myShakespeare an online commissioning platform for the World Shakespeare Festival. In 2011, she produced Adelaide Road for the RSC, which mixed live performance with an app and website map.

As a spoken word producer, she has worked with the Old Vic Tunnels, Battersea Arts Centre, Birmingham REP, Contact, Improbable, Southbank Centre, Soho Theatre, and Shunt. She has been Head of Creative Programmes at the Albany Theatre and Programme Manager for Apples & Snakes.

She commits to the development of the arts and technology sector by being a mentor and advisor to programmes such as the Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Labs, Creative XR programme supported by Arts Council England and Digital Catapult and CPH:LABS.

She is a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice, as well as an Industry Champion for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which helps inform academic research on the creative industries to lead to better policies for the sector. She has been appointed Chair of digital agency, The Space, established by Arts Council England and the BBC to help promote digital engagement across the arts.

Seth White is the Head of Immersive Experiences at Volume.  He leads a very experienced development team with a background in learning products.  In 2015 Seth’s team switched focus to immersive technology, and have been developing VR/MR/AR solutions for global clients ever since.  You’ll find examples of their work here: https://www.casestudies.volume.ai/

Catherine Allen is one of the UK’s leading figures in creative virtual reality. 

 

Her company, Limina Immersive have brought meaningful, cultural VR to thousands of audience members who wouldn’t have otherwise experienced this new art form. They have done this through three years of VR festivals, pop ups and a 6-month VR theatre on Bristol’s Harbourside. Through doing this, Limina has learned what audiences want from both the content and the overall experience. The team now share this knowledge with the emerging sector. 

 

As a VR industry leader, Allen’s work is known for bringing VR to broader audiences who wouldn’t describe themselves as early adopters. She was part of the BAFTA’s VR advisory team, has judged VR for a range of international film festivals and has authored industry reports for public sector funding bodies. Catherine produced the BBC’s first commissioned VR documentary, the award-winning Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel, which has toured festivals globally, showed for six weeks at the National Theatre in London and was described by Broadcast Magazine as ‘genre-defining’. 

 

Before VR, Catherine worked at the educational app publisher, Touch Press; winning a BAFTA on the Disney Animated app, with Disney Interactive. 

Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer currently working as Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company to explore new artistic initiatives and partnerships.

In 2017, she became a fellow of the University of Worcester for her work in the arts and technology. In 2016 she was awarded The Hospital Club & Creatives Industries award for cross industry collaboration for her work on the RSC’s The Tempest in collaboration with Intel and in association with The Imaginarium Studios.

In 2013 she was listed in the top 100 most influential people working in Gaming and Technology by The Hospital Club and Guardian Culture Professionals. In partnership with Google, she produced Midsummer Night’s Dreaming winning two Lovie Awards for Innovation and Experimentation.

In 2012, she produced myShakespeare an online commissioning platform for the World Shakespeare Festival. In 2011, she produced Adelaide Road for the RSC, which mixed live performance with an app and website map.

As a spoken word producer, she has worked with the Old Vic Tunnels, Battersea Arts Centre, Birmingham REP, Contact, Improbable, Southbank Centre, Soho Theatre, and Shunt. She has been Head of Creative Programmes at the Albany Theatre and Programme Manager for Apples & Snakes.

She commits to the development of the arts and technology sector by being a mentor and advisor to programmes such as the Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Labs, Creative XR programme supported by Arts Council England and Digital Catapult and CPH:LABS.

She is a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice, as well as an Industry Champion for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which helps inform academic research on the creative industries to lead to better policies for the sector. She has been appointed Chair of digital agency, The Space, established by Arts Council England and the BBC to help promote digital engagement across the arts.

Ideate Plymouth is part of the iMayflower project and has been supported by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport who fund the Cultural Development Fund which is administered by Arts Council England. The iMayflower project aims to deliver a programme of large scale cultural and creative events to inspire and enrich lives.