Objectives
Researching new, emergent and convergent technologies in gaming, TV, film, performance and digital entertainment, to:
- generate insight and foresight to understand and inform their development and markets
- capture and disseminate data and learnings to inform industry, R&D, policy, investment and strategy
- support the development of more ecologically sustainable practices
- develop a deeper understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion
- become a leading authority and develop products and services to ensure sustainability beyond the funding window
Audiences
The Foresight Lab’s audiences are:
- Industry stakeholders – from CTOs and creative producers to investors seeking intelligence to inform decision making
- Policy stakeholders – to inform policy development and investment priorities from incentivisation to education and skills
- CoSTAR Network stakeholders – from the National Lab, network labs and the AHRC
- Academic stakeholders – from researchers to funders across the higher education ecosystem
- The Public – seeking to understand more about fast-changing developments in the creative industries
Research Aims
The Foresight Lab’s research aims are:
- To employ advanced data science for analysis, aiding in identifying R&D opportunities, market trends, and industry foresights.
- To construct a global technology roadmap for companies in CoSTAR sectors, detailing deployed technologies, product features, services, experiences, and their impact on strategies and processes.
- To derive insights from audience data to understand reception of technological developments, identify market growth, and align with net-zero goals. To explore audience experiences, expectations, market sizes, business models, commercial opportunities, and untapped innovation areas.
- To monitor policies, incentives, facilities, and investments in advanced media production, offering valuable insights for decision-makers. To provide a practical framework for CoSTAR technologies, aiding in the formulation of robust policy recommendations.
- To produce robust research and industry-relevant reports and insights that will be of high value to policy makers.
- To offer early insights into technologies enhancing workflows for creative technologists, detailing the necessary skills and training requirements for the sector. We’ll also monitor potential disruptions and suggest mitigations.
- To create a comprehensive dataset on the use and implementation of advanced technologies in the Creative Industries.
- To create a framework for CoSTAR sectors to use data-led insights in understanding and mitigating their environmental impact. This includes a toolkit for decarbonization, and authoritative reporting on climate impacts of CoSTAR technologies and the toolkit’s utilization.
- To assess the impact on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) by measuring, tracking, and reporting on workforce participation and audience impacts, including our own activities, team, and audiences. To commission tailored reports, in collaboration with partners, to explore barriers and opportunities for EDI related to CoSTAR technologies.
Research Questions
Our work will help us answer the following Research Questions:
- Which CoSTAR technologies will provide the most significant opportunities for Creative Industries development in the next 5 to 10 years?
- What are audience experiences and expectations for products and services using CoSTAR technologies? What are the anticipated audience and market sizes, both in the UK and globally?
- What is the global landscape of public and private investment in CoSTAR technologies? How does this compare to the UK, and how is it evolving? What threats and opportunities arise from these dynamics? Which regions or territories are likely to be most valuable to UK businesses for innovation and trade?
- What essential data structures and metadata elements should be collected for CoSTAR technology productions? How can insights from this data support all CoSTAR activities?
- What practical framework for understanding advanced creative industries and CoSTAR technologies best supports the generation of robust, relevant and valuable policy recommendations?
- What are the experiences of individuals, teams, and public/commercial entities using CoSTAR technologies in terms of workflows, recruitment, and retention? Are there skills gaps, and where is intervention needed most urgently?
- What R&D initiatives support the use of cutting-edge convergent technologies across film, TV, video games, extended reality (XR), and performance?
- How extensive is the use of convergent technologies (including artificial intelligence) by firms working in CoSTAR sectors?
- What are the possible carbon effects from use of convergent technologies, and how can we promote positive environmental impacts?
- How will convergent technologies impact on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and how can we promote inclusion to ensure that outputs of these technologies reflect our diverse society?