I2C PPP Manifesto
“When you are building a new kind of product or creating a whole new market, you’ve got to have a proxy for that market. Content projects, when they are wedded to the hardware development side, can serve that purpose.”
(Neal Stephenson, author Snow Crash, Chief Futurist at Magic Leap).
The next five years will see the rapid of deployment of new deeply immersive and highly interactive platforms and devices for telling stories, providing entertainment, news and information, selling goods, delivering advertising, along with a wide range of business and consumer services. As the technology advances and price points decline, an entire new marketplace of applications (both business and consumer) will hit the market. According to a report published in January 2016 these immersive and interactive technologies have “the potential to spawn a multibillion-dollar industry, and be as game changing as the advent of the PC” [1].
By ‘Immersive and Interactive Content’ we refer to computer-generated simulation of reality with physical, spatial and visual dimensions. Such ‘virtual reality’ systems can simulate everything from a walk-through of a building prior to construction to simulations of aircraft flight to the operating theatre to new three dimensional forms of interactive entertainment. Immersive technologies and virtual reality are powerful and compelling applications by which humans can interface and interact with computer generated environments in a way that mimics real life through the complete engagement of the senses.
Although currently mainly known for consumer applications in the entertainment industry, the real promise lies in such fields as medicine, science, engineering, oil exploration, data visualization and the military to name just a few. As 3D and immersive technology becomes more integrated and accessible for a wide range of applications, it will require well-designed user interfaces and innovative content across interoperable platforms including mobile devices, distributed web systems and desktop applications.This is not just about technology R&D. NEM understands that innovation and growth in this sector is driven by an intricate relationship between content and technology, between art and science, by interdisciplinary collaboration between artist, scientist and engineer. We have been working with partners from the film, television, games, arts, retail, transport, telecommunications, medical and manufacturing sectors to understand what support will drive the development of the creative, technological and commercial infrastructure necessary for European companies to become world leaders in creating immersive and interactive content and experiences
As an outcome of this consultation, NEM now proposes that a Public Private Partnership in Immersive and Interactive Content (I2C PPP) should be established as part of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme between 2018 – 2021.
The I2C programme would provide support in three main areas: Content Generation, Content Distribution & Processing, Content Visualisation & Interaction. It will assist both small and large businesses at different points of the value chain to respond to and anticipate emerging user needs, to improve productivity and facilitate collaboration between sectors.While the current focus is on visual immersion, augmented reality and virtual reality, we are inclusive and open-minded about what form the immersive content and technologies of the future will be: all human senses should be included, on existing platforms and some not yet invented.
We also acknowledge and encourage crossover between the creative industries and other sectors of the economy. Tools, approaches, ways of thinking and business models established by creative businesses can be exploited in other sectors to develop new products and services – and vice versa. Such links can be found at the very forefront of innovation – for instance, the development of 3D visualization techniques in medicine and engineering.
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[1] Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
[2] Digi Capital – Augmented/Virtual Reality Report 2016
