Manufacturers explore immersive technology at Devonport Market Hall

On Tuesday 28th September, 2021, the Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group and Real Ideas welcomed PMG members and their connections to the Devonport Market Hall to explore and discuss the building’s ‘state of the art’ immersive dome facilities, and the collaborative opportunities in immersive technology and digital fabrication.

Immersive and other modern digital technologies can potentially impact on many aspects of business from new product or factory layout design to product launch.

Immersive technologies are predicted to become a $160 billion market. While much of this demand is consumer-led, the deployment of immersive technology in the manufacturing sector is fast becoming the dominant driver for future growth around the globe. It is vital that UK manufacturers ride the crest of this wave and become early adopters, or risk losing competitive advantage and market share: BMW, for instance, has already incorporated virtual reality into its automobile design process.

The UK is well-placed to make the most of this technology and Plymouth in particular.

Plymouth has been awarded a grant of nearly £3.5 million from the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) to deliver the iMayflower project; one of only five projects in England and the only one in the South West. It’s a three year project that has also raised £2.5 million of match funding from partners – that’s £6M in total.The iMayflower project involves working with partners across the city who are developing digital technology, such as 3-D printing, virtual reality or immersive technology to help the city expand its expertise in advanced manufacturing, robotics and digital making.

The Market Hall is a world-class space for digital innovation and learning situated in the heart of Devonport, Plymouth. The Immersive Dome is the first of its type (15m diameter, 210 degrees over the top, with a flat floor) in Europe. The only other like it in the world can be found at SAT in Montreal, Canada.

In addition to exploring the Devonport based facility, the event attendees heard from a variety of iMayfower partners including the University of Plymouth; the Plymouth College of Art and private sector providers whereafter they divided into small discussion groups to consider collaborative opportunities in more detail. Members also received a twenty-five page iMayflower & PMG Prospectus which can also be viewed here

Steve Gerry, Secretary of the PMG, said “After a gap of more than eighteen months, it was great to have the PMG members meeting together, once again, in person. Thank you to members of the iMayflower project for what was a very informative and potentially beneficial two hour event.”

For more information, visit these sites:

The Immersive Dome, Devonport – https://tinyurl.com/crzt4y4a

University of Plymouth – https://tinyurl.com/3n3hf7z2

Plymouth College of Art

https://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/posts/plymouth-becomes-the-uks-first-city-to-join-fab-city-network

For a report by the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Visualisation and VR Forum.

https://www.amrc.co.uk/files/document/200/1540805826_HVM_CATAPULT_IMM_TECH_DL2.pdf