The Institute for Design Informatics – Edinburgh College of Art together with the School of Informatics at University of Edinburgh – have been awarded funding as core partners on the UK Government’s Convergent Screen Technologies and performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) programme. The CoSTAR Network is the largest investment in Creative Industries R&D to date with a £75.6M grant awarded by the UKRI Infrastructure Fund and delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, funding new state-of-the-art research and development facilities to drive the next generation of screen technology and on-set virtual production from 2024-2029.

Researchers from the Institute for Design Informatics are participating in the CoSTAR Foresight Lab, led by Prof. Jonny Freeman from Goldsmiths, in partnership with BFI (the British Film Institute) and Loughborough University. The Foresight Lab’s mission is to be the go-to destination for industry, research and policy makers to shape and inform future technology-driven creative RD&I in screen, games, performance and digital entertainment.

The CoSTAR Foresight Lab’s role is to capture and disseminate a body of industry knowledge, trends and needs – present and future – ranging from AI, carbon, EDI to other sector relevant areas. Foresight Lab’s work will assist in understanding the opportunities and impacts of emerging technologies, and in planning and investing on the basis of a robust evidence base.  The team in Edinburgh will be leading on data analytics and the development of a dashboard to support policy makers, researchers, and partners in creative technology.

The CoSTAR Realtime Lab aims to deliver innovation and enterprise across two centres in Dundee and Edinburgh. With state-of-the-art studio facilities in Dundee and Edinburgh, the Realtime Lab is a collaborative space for industry leaders, creative visionaries, and researchers to explore virtual production – a cinematic technique that merges Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), Augmented Reality (AR), and motion capture to create immersive digital sets for film, gaming, and live performance. Researchers will collaborate with industry partners to enhance production pipelines through advancements in 3D environments, video processing, performance and motion capture, facial animation, automated speech, and hyper-realistic digital film sets. The CoSTAR Realtime Lab’s work will also explore ways to enhance spectator experiences at concerts, live events, and museums using AR and Virtual Reality (VR).

The facility in Dundee, Water Edge, is led by Prof Gregor White at Abertay University while ECA Immersive Workshop, based at FirstStage Studios in Leith, hosts researchers and practitioners from IDI, Edinburgh College of Art and the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.

Through these centres, the CoSTAR Realtime Lab will establish a digital technology and creative industries ecosystem by driving the creation of innovative processes, pipelines, tools and workflows for the games, animation, film and TV sectors, buildingon existing Creative Industries Clusters programmes InGAME & Creative Informatics.