Digital and Tech

From improved and more accessible experiences, to transformations within industry, digital and technology plays a key role in the green industrial revolution. Through Falmouth University, Cornwall’s creative industries university to the universities of Exeter and Plymouth, tech and digital education is feeding us a pipeline of innovative and exciting businesses and young people with the skills to support our emerging sectors.

Agri-Tech

Future Farm at Duchy College, Stoke Climsland, Cornwall, is the first of its kind in England. The aim of the project is to improve efficiency, welfare and technological advancement in dairy farming. At the two-acre, £3 million facility, cows can be monitored using ground-breaking research techniques. 

A computerised, precision-control feeding system as well as the ability to separate slurry and manure from the different groups of animals, means multiple research projects can be run simultaneously.

The project will be a learning platform and demonstration farm for Duchy College students, whilst also being used by researchers and scientists.

Health-Tech

Unlike many other areas of the UK, Cornwall’s residents are served by primary health practices that all come under one Acute Care Trust, one Clinical Commissioning Group and one local authority. 

This streamlined set-up, diverse demographics and variable population mean many consider the county to be the perfect testbed for healthtech innovation.

Creative-Tech

Falmouth University is one of the fastest growing universities in the UK. 

The university aims to foster the fusion of creativity and technology to bring about new ideas, new ways of thinking, doing, making and creating – working in sectors as diverse as eHealth, agri-tech, fintech, fashion, tourism and immersive technology. 

Anne Carlisle, OBE, Vice-Chancellor, states: “The future economy is being driven by the ‘Creative Bridge’. Imagination, innovation and storytelling is needed in every sector to bring technology and ideas to life.” 

Launchpad at Falmouth University is a business incubation and development programme. Students are supported to emerge as a founder of a high-growth digital business, and receive a stipend for their first year.

The programme matches digital creatives and entrepreneurs with industry-leading partners like Sony Interactive Entertainment and Amazon Web Services.

In 2019, the programme was named as one of only 20 new University Enterprise Zones (UEZ) by UK Research and Innovation, receiving UEZ status.

The wAVE (AVE = Augmented and Virtual Experiences) Immersive Experiences in Museums Project has been developed by Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Cornwall Museums Partnership, and Falmouth University, and is funded by the Coastal Communities Fund. 

The project brings together Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s coastal communities, heritage centres and academic experts to develop new and engaging virtual, augmented and immersive reality experiences within the five participating communities of Bude, Looe, St Agnes, Porthcurno and the Isles of Scilly.

wAVE follows three strands:

Digital Revival – Innovative technologies developed with Falmouth University’s research experts – such as VR headsets, HD projection, CGI and more – will allow visitors to explore heritage sites, see artefacts in their original settings and meet historical figures in new immersive visitor experiences.

Human-Centred Design – Working with staff, volunteers, and communities to ensure that the experiences meet the needs of their future users.

Impact and Legacy – wAVE will raise the profile of Cornwall’s culture and heritage offer. Local communities will be involved in a programme of digital training to allow wider tourism businesses to harness the opportunity presented by immersive technology. Allowing local people to add value to their businesses through future-proofing their offer by differentiating their product, becoming more visible and accessing new virtual experiences to entice new visitors.

A further strand of the project will strengthen knowledge-sharing and digital skills development across Cornwall to help future-proof the visitor economy and develop a blueprint for replication across the UK.

An example: At Bude Castle Heritage Centre, visitors can steer a ketch from out at sea, into Bude harbour using a VR immersive experience. They physically turn a ship’s wheel whilst seeing the action in front of them.