StoryFutures China: UK-China Transnational Strategic Partnership for Immersive Storytelling in Museums and Cultural Institutions

StoryFutures China brings together two of the world's leading cultural institutions - The National Gallery in the UK and Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in China - to research, prototype and develop immersive storytelling experiences that both enhance visitor experiences on-site as well as allow for the Gallery and the Museum to take experiences to the audience, wherever they are in the world. This groundbreaking collaboration will create two audience-facing immersive prototypes, one at each location, that are specifically designed to speak to local audiences as well as travel to their counterpart institution in the UK or China. In so doing, StoryFutures China will facilitate a new level of cultural exchange between the two countries by promoting an approach to visitor experiences that has the international visitor in mind as much as the nation's citizenry. Themed around a concern with "art in science" and "science in art and", this collaboration will enhance and translate artworks and historical artefacts for visitors by using immersive technologies to provide additional layers of informational depth and emotional engagement by revealing the stories behind some of each countries' national treasures.

This project addresses major challenges for both the UK's and China's creative and cultural industries by examining how the disruptive capabilities of immersive technologies can be harnessed to produce new audience experiences, business models and cultural value that can drive economic growth in both countries. It draws on the unique strength and position of the successful StoryFutures project, funded by the UK's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, including a well-established collaborative model with The National Gallery, to promote an open innovation approach to developing immersive storytelling prototypes that respond to clearly identified audience behaviours and needs. By utilising StoryFutures' open innovation framework, this project will introduce novelty into large organisations' supply chains, develop new business models and create immersive prototypes that can be experienced and tested by thousands of visitors to promote better understandings and cultural exchange between countries. Moreover, the prototypes will stand as "use cases" for future collaborations between the UK and China and, within each country, represent scalable opportunities for the growing visitor experience economy at cultural and commercial institutions. In so doing, the project underscores the role of cultural institutions in promoting growth and innovation in the wider creative economy.

By focusing on the themes of "art in science" and "science in art", StoryFutures China develops an area of major concern in both museums and art galleries, brokering a relationship that is collaborative rather than competitive. By bringing together cultural institutions from across sectors, the project will promote best practice and knowledge exchange in how best to harness the disruptive technologies of AR, MR and VR for visitor experiences and how to reach audiences away from the physical location of each institution. The project draws on the world-class research in design at Brunel, storytelling and audience insight at Royal Holloway and the long-standing expertise in the immersive tech by Shanghai Foremost Group. In particular, it builds on the success of the Virtual Veronese prototype developed by StoryFutures and The National Gallery: the insights from this project revealed that whilst an experience could uniquely blend the physical and the digital for visitors on site in the use of AR, the potential for VR was to take the Gallery to the audience wherever they may be.

StoryFutures China will support economic growth, innovation, value creation and audience experiences in the UK and China. The project places impact at its heart, focusing on three particular areas:

a) The creation of public-facing immersive prototypes that provide audiences with new experiences;
b) Driving economic growth in the creative industries and promoting the role of innovation in the cultural industries;
c) Promoting international cultural and economic exchange between China and UK.

Our model seeks to increase R&D spend in the creation of immersive prototypes, with every £1 R&D spend likely to lead to 20% increase p.a. of private sector R&D output (Haskel 2014). Whilst these prototypes are audience-facing, they function to entice further investment in them as individual products but also as sector-wide case studies that stand as exemplars of how immersive technologies can be used on- and off- site to enhance and attract visitor experiences. We provide The National Gallery, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and creative SMEs in both countries an architecture for innovative R&D, enabling product, content and experience development otherwise too risky. In WP1, StoryLab brokers collaborations between academics and creative companies and cultural institutions to generate new market opportunities and provide participants with brand exposure on national/international platforms to facilitate further investment or sales opportunities. Across our work packages, R&D on business models in WP2, social and economic value will provide partners with a deeper understanding and support for the opportunities generated through the prototype projects. In WP3, we will build UX design tools that are focused on international visitors and their needs. Our audience research in WP4 will provide insight for further development and investment. We link these insights to technological form, providing narrative engineering solutions to technical barriers that restrain creative innovation.

We expect to create the following impact:

a) Leverage over £100,000 in direct investment and support from The National Gallery into immersive storytelling and the creative industries;
b) Reach over 2,000 visitors in The National Gallery and 4,000 visitors in Shanghai Science and Technology Museum;
c) Create or save a minimum of 10 jobs across Higher Education and Creative Industries;
d) Produce at least one new form of IP for a creative industries SME and at least one export opportunity;
e) Utilise StoryFutures national trade body networks to reach over 1,000 creative companies;
f) Enable creative industries growth that can be monitored and tracked through StoryFutures established and ongoing monitoring framework and staffing.

SF China draws on a strong record from the StoryFutures project, which has already unlocked over £1.5m in creative industries, commercial, third and public sector investment in R&D, brokering new relationships with university researchers in the process.