Six ambitious new projects linked to the University of Glasgow are set to share in a major new investment from the UK Government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. 

The projects linked to the University of Glasgow include Museums in the Metaverse which is lead by College of Arts academics.
 
A total of 11 projects in and around the city of Glasgow will receive support from the Glasgow City Region’s share of £100 million Levelling Up money, announced in yesterday’s Budget, to further accelerate the Region’s booming innovation economy.  

A local partnership of business, public sector and academic institutions led on selecting the project proposals to go forward, working closely with Innovate UK. 

Glasgow’s Innovation Accelerator (IA) projects will address local economic challenges as well as national and global societal and environmental issues.  
 
With the project selection phase now completed, the IA Programme projects will formally commence this Spring.  
 
Uzma Khan, Vice Principal - Economic Development and Innovation at the University of Glasgow, said: “I’m delighted that the UK Government has chosen to invest in Glasgow to support innovation and R&D. A significant amount of this investment will be linked to the University of Glasgow.  

“It’s a hugely exciting development for Glasgow City Region and one which will catalyse further research, development and innovation in our key sectors delivering benefits for the whole region and our communities.  

“Through the Glasgow Riverside Innovation District, this significant investment will draw on the University of Glasgow’s world-leading research, global reach and strong civic mission to make Glasgow one of the most innovative economies in the UK.  

“By working in close partnership with industry, government, academia and our communities, we will ensure that we create the jobs, wealth and the skills pipeline needed to create productive and thriving places.” 
  
The pilot UK Innovation Accelerator Programme will provide funding shared across three UK city regions to support a range of transformative Research and Development projects and accelerate the growth of the three high-potential innovation clusters around Glasgow, Manchester and West Midlands. 

Further details on the programme and projects will be released in due course. 

Museums in the Metaverse: The Museums in the Metaverse project will create a ground-breaking two-sided Extended Reality (XR) Culture and Heritage platform. It will empower online visitors to explore vast cultural assets in engaging new ways; enable novice and expert curators to create new content; and explore models of use to support sustainable economic and cultural growth. 

The project will harness the University of Glasgow's global reputation for research in digital cultural heritage and XR, together with key cultural heritage and immersive technology partners, to develop an innovative solution to constraints that can limit physical exhibitions to less than 10% of the objects held in collections, and limit audience reach by cost, distance, and accessibility. One side of the proposed platform is for visitors who gain access to a rich array of museums, sites, objects, and novel and dynamic experiences. The other is for virtual curators, where experts and novices alike can build enriching and entertaining narratives using objects and virtual environments that have never before been placed together in the real world.

First published: 16 March 2023

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