56464The Virtual Bristol VR Lab - a startup incubation and remote worker networking spaceClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKThe Bristol VR Lab has, for the last 2 years, successfully been acting as an incubator for startups working in VR & AR, as well as associated ML and IOT, and has also hosted a huge number of talks and meetings to accelerate this field. The coronavirus has created massive disruption which is leading to increased remote working and networking, fields in which VR and AR are going to be transformative. With headset sales increasing and workers moving to home offices, there will be a great need for people to come together in shared digital 3d spaces. We are already seeing this in platforms like AltSpaceVR, and in video games like Fortnite, however these are focused on the engine and not the applications such as assisting the technology community and startup development. Bristol VR Lab has started work on developing a virtual digital mirror of the physical Bristol VR Lab, which can host daily connection for workers, can host virtual talks and seminars, can host meetup events and enable other new ways to network. Due to Coronovirus we see the societal need to implement and actively grow this space, open up to our local members and residents, and to a national and international audience, who will have increasingly limited opportunities to collaborate face to face. The main objective will be to create and add functionality to a 3D model of the Bristol VR Lab, with areas for virtual working, one to one meetings, 'coffee' breaks, small workshops, seminars and group classes or relaxation. Once this is built, we will host it in AltSpaceVR and use the network and track history of the Bristol VR Lab to drive engagement through hosted events and talks, as well as providing real world training sessions to help members of startup companies, corporates and members of the the public access the space using their VR headset or PC / mobile phone. This will be an innovative project - as such there is no well known virtual meeting space, and the process of setting up the space and scaling for a potentially huge global audience with multiple functionalities will be useful in assisting other companies set up their own virtual meeting areas. -- EXTENSION FOR IMPACT -- The project has so far been successful in building the virtual space and running events. We wish to engage TechSpark, an organisation that runs media and events to an audience of 25,000 companies and professionals, to design, promote and host a number of events between January and March 2021, that will encourage more companies to make use of the virtual space. We will work with TechSpark to develop business models to drive revenue in the product to achieve self sustainability in 2021. We also have uncovered an issue with the use of the space on Mac computers, and have designed a solution where Mac users can seamlessly stream from a high end PC or server, and Amazon are providing GPU Cloud credits for the purposes of the project, we wish to extend the project to develop this capability.