About us
We investigate AR & VR for the creative industry.
If you are interested in learning about the potential of AR or VR please get in touch to find out about the resources and seminars available to academic and industry partners. We offer support to all sectors.
Our recent experience includes: Tourism, Heritage, Health, Sports, Education
AR & VR is only now maturing into a technology offering real innovation and benefits to users. Until now this has typically been used as a gimmick, primarily as a way for organisations to associate with technological innovation. This hype stage has passed.
Creative and cultural industries, including design, art, heritage, tourism, games and music, are already starting to take advantage of improved mobile devices and mass-market innovations such as the HoloLens to implement AR. And, as the technology develops, there is a shift away from simple information overlay towards generating experiences. In tourism, AR has the potential to enhance the visitor experience through the overlay of graphical, auditory and other sense enhancements providing a different view of physical objects and destinations.
Augmented Reality (AR) was first usefully defined by Boeing researcher Tom Caudell in 1990 to describe a computerised display overlay that supported aircraft engineers in their job. The term has been used and developed in various industries since and is today most commonly known as ‘the interaction of superimposed graphics, audio and other sense enhancements over a real-world environment that’s displayed in real-time’ (Digitaltrends, 2014). Since then, AR has been implemented in various settings. For example, television football pundits often mark out gameplay on-screen using digital markers (circling players, etc.). However, the hype has increased in the area since mobile applications (apps) started using the technology to enhance the user experience. AR apps are an increasing feature in app stores as developers realise their potential.
The creative economy continues to have a significant impact on major economies around the world.
In the UK, Government statistics reveal that the UK’s creative industries contribute £91.8bn to the economy. The creative industries had the highest growth rate between 2015 and 2016 of all sectors, increasing in Gross Value Added (GVA) by 7.6%. This means it grew at twice the rate of the UK economy as a whole, which grew in GVA by 3.5%. The sector that provided the most value to the economy in 2016 was digital, making up 6.7% of the UK economy, followed by the creative industries at 5.3%, and tourism at 3.8%. (Design Week, 2017)
Innovation, business growth and access to talent
We work with public and private organisations of all sizes, from SMEs to multinationals to address real-world problems and develop industry-leading solutions. Whether you’re looking to create new products or services, solve a problem, train your staff or hire our highly-skilled graduates, working with Manchester Met could help you grow or improve your business.
Manchester Metropolitan University is the largest campus-based undergraduate university in the UK with a total student population of more than 37,000. It is a University for World Class professionals with an emphasis on vocational education and employability.
We can work with you to conduct specialist research, share our ultramodern facilities or simply provide business consultation and advice.