UCL and Loughborough University London launch creative experience hub on Olympic Park
A new chapter in London’s innovation landscape has opened with the launch of the Creative Experience Lab London. Convened by UCL and Loughborough University London, it aims to establish Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a leading base for innovation in the experience economy.
Driving growth in UK’s experience economy
The Creative Experience Lab London (CELL) will develop, prototype and pilot breakthrough ideas, products and services at the intersection of creativity, culture and technology. Cross-sector, interdisciplinary teams will work together to apply advanced tools like AI, immersive and multiverse technologies, haptics and robotics in live experience sectors—performance, art, heritage, architecture, the built environment, leisure, sport and retail. These new, cutting-edge experiences will support growth of the UK’s £134 billion experience economy and £124 billion creative industries, as well as London’s creative and experience sectors that are key priorities in the London Growth Plan.
A world-class ecosystem for innovation
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is uniquely positioned to support a leading innovation base in creative experience. It sits within one of Europe’s fastest-growing creative, business and tech clusters, underpinned by the Mayor of London’s £1.1 billion East Bank investment and the exceptional creativity of East London’s communities and entrepreneurs.
This unparalleled ecosystem combines cutting-edge facilities, diverse talent, world-renowned cultural institutions at the East Bank partnership including V&A East, the BBC and Sadler’s Wells with technology and creative sector pioneers. With large scale experience, culture and leisure facilities and venues and world-class researchers at UCL, London College of Fashion, UAL and Loughborough University London, this offers an ideal launchpad for new ideas, services and businesses.
Image: East End Edit: Using 3D scanning with young people to explore embodied fashion storytelling in museum settings
Partnership at scale
Over 15 partners have already joined forces with UCL and Loughborough University London, including Here East, V&A East, London College of Fashion, UAL, University of East London, London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) Elevate Board, The Yard Theatre, Sadler’s Wells, 1UP Studios, Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Untold Garden, East London Dance and others. They’ve been working together on a living testbed for next-generation experiences, with local communities and young people actively shaping the agenda. Further partners, from global industry leaders to cultural icons to grass-roots community organisations to pioneering SMEs, will join the programme as it develops.
Kristina Glushkova, Programme Director (UCL), said:
“It’s exciting to see real momentum building for an innovation hub at the Olympic Park. Here we have an entirely unique ecosystem that supports deep, genuine cross-sector collaboration - and our pilot has already shown what’s possible. We would love to hear from creative and experience industry organisations who’d like to help us shape our vision and plans and explore partnership opportunities.”
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Proving the model: a successful pilot
The Lab began work last November with an ambitious pilot to demonstrate what happens when academia, industry and communities co-create new ideas, technologies and formats. More than 100 leaders from creative, cultural, business, community and higher education sectors took part in a series of thematic innovation labs tackling real-world challenges set by V&A East Storehouse, Here East, London’s unconventional campus and others.
From this, six highly collaborative prototypes were commissioned, funded by Research England’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), managed by UCL Innovation & Enterprise, combining AI, immersive and metaverse technologies with art, heritage, architecture and performance experiences. Local communities were at the heart of the pilot, with young people, local businesses and community organisations participating in innovation activities.
Image: The Room Where It Happens: a novel 3-site, 3 actor performance pilot with The Yard Theatre
Highlights include:
AI-enabled heritage explorer helping young people engage with collections in personalised ways
Immersive fashion experience using 3D scanning to explore fashion storytelling in museum settings
Motion-matching AI dance partner enabling participants to dance Bhangra with AI
Multi-site theatre performance synchronising live audiences and actors across three locations
Immersive virtual campus where tenants can showcase work and forge new connections
Collaborative online game where a player can drive a bus through the Here East campus
Professor Andrew Chitty, Programme Director (Loughborough University London), said:
“Advanced technologies can open up entirely new ways of creating and sharing experiences. The Lab brings together world-class researchers, cultural organisations and pioneering businesses, we can apply tools like AI, immersive media, haptics and robotics to generate experiences that simply weren’t possible before – and in doing so grow the UK’s creative economy.”
Next phase: building a permanent Lab and investment proposition
On the strength of this pilot, UCL and Loughborough University London have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalise their collaboration and move towards a permanent Creative Experience Lab on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Next steps include mapping the creative ecosystem around the Park, co-creating the vision with local partners and communities, and developing a compelling investment proposition to attract public and private finance.
Image: Interactions with AI, a pilot AI and dance experience with Alexander Whitley Dance Company and East London Dance. Credit: Ben Stanley
A national and global opportunity
By harnessing East London’s talent, global cultural institutions and advanced technologies, the Creative Experience Lab has the potential to transform the UK’s experience economy, generating new audiences, services and revenue streams, and positioning the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a leading destination for creative innovation. The partners welcome further collaboration with businesses, communities, innovators and universities in East London and beyond to realise this vision.
Gus Casely-Hayford, Director, V&A Storehouse, said: “This kind of collaboration is what the Olympic Park was established to do. The bringing together of a number of world-class institutions but also working within the communities that were always creative”.
Pilot projects and partners:
“VNA Test” – 1UP Studios, LLDC Elevate, Loughborough London, UCL, with V&A Storehouse as challenge setter.
“East End Edit” – Indigo Storm, LLDC Elevate, London College of Fashion, UCL, with V&A Storehouse as challenge setter.
“Interactions with AI” – Alexander Whitley Dance Company, East London Dance, London College of Fashion, UCL, University of East London.
“Room Where It Happens” – The Yard Theatre, University of East London, London College of Fashion and UCL.
“Here East Expanded” – Untold Garden, UCL, Aquifer Film, University of East London, Loughborough University London, with Here East as challenge setter.
“BusQuest” – Mediorite, University of Staffordshire in London, UCL, with Here East as challenge setter.
Image credits
Image 1: Here East Expanded: a prototype AR-enabled metaverse experience with HereEast and Untold Garden
Image 2: East End Edit: Using 3D scanning with young people to explore embodied fashion storytelling in museum settings
Image 3: The Room Where It Happens: a novel 3-site, 3 actor performance pilot with The Yard Theatre. Credit: Chengying Li
Image 4. Interactions with AI, a pilot AI and dance experience with Alexander Whitley Dance Company and East London Dance. Credit: Ben Stanley