News Article

A ground breaking pilot project is to exploit digital and 3D technology and create a web based environment to bring business opportunities, productivity and growth to the North East design and business sectors.

Teesside University’s Centre for Design in the Digital Economy (DLab) is to establish the new 3D online virtual Northern Design Centre and surrounding business park with the potential to grow and support design ventures and SMEs.

With the use of cutting edge digital technology, it will remove many of the physical, service, logistics, cost or communication limits that can be barriers to growth in the outside world.

The working titled ‘NDC District’, will support the development of the region’s design and business sectors by allowing SMEs to populate a thriving virtual city creative district.  It will drive complimentary presence and catalytic content by business support agencies, knowledge transfer institutions and the Northern Design Centre Innovation Connector itself

The project is being part financed by the European Union’s ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-13, securing £515,000 ERDF investment through regional development agency One North East.  Teesside University is funding a further £565,000 for the project, which will assist 76 design companies and create and safeguard over 100 jobs.

Tapping into the experience of the university’s DLab team, NDC District will provide virtual incubation space, operational services, facilities and business accommodation for live online occupancy by regional enterprises.

“Users will inhabit a 3D environment populated with office buildings, exhibitions, training resources, conferencing and meeting areas,” explained DLab director Professor Brian Wilson.  “Users will appear as ‘avatars’ - representative virtual human forms.

“The creation of business premises and technical support of interactive ‘real-time’ services through 3D online facilities will allow businesses to present their capabilities and resources to the market place, and attract market and investment engagement in a completely new way.”

The clustering presence of many complimentary enterprises in one location is seen as paralleling previous transformations in the design sector.  These include the emergence of digital graphics in publishing and animation, digital product development for industrial design and engineering, prototyping and manufacture, and the internet for web design and multimedia economies.

“The new mass participation online economy is already underway on a global stage,” added One North East design senior specialist Ben Strutt.  “Use of design processes, services and technologies enable critical bridges to be built between early ideas, research, development, and the market place.”

“We need to ensure North East companies have the knowledge, skill and operational presence to exploit new forms of online commerce and become competitive pioneers of a virtual-3D online business environment.”

“This pilot project will provide a new channel of communication that enables businesses in the design sector to increase collaboration and knowledge transfer opportunities, develop connections with new markets, and acquire market insight for product and service innovation.”

NDC District will run on a purpose-developed 3D web delivery platform and within DLab’s larger City environment, allowing wider business and community engagement readily accessible from any location remotely via standard desktop computers.

Closely linked with the Northern Design Centre innovation connector investment plan, the online building and surrounding business district will accelerate access to NDC facilities and resources, and amplify Design Network North activity through being visible online globally, and at the cutting edge of the design economy.

The ERDF 2007-13 programme is bringing over £300m into North East England to support innovation, enterprise and business support.  It will help create and safeguard 28,000 new jobs, start 3,000 new businesses and increase the region’s productivity by £1.1bn per annum.

The project delivers Networking for Innovation, part of Solutions for Business, the Government’s package of publicly funded business support designed to help companies start and grow.

For further information about the virtual NDC District, call DLab at Teesside University on 01642 738 100.

One North East is also leading plans for a physical Northern Design Centre building to be constructed in the Baltic Business Quarter.  This will be the focal point for the next generation of innovative firms sharing knowledge and exploiting opportunities to grow the design industry in the region and is expected to open in early 2011.

The design industry is part of the wider commercial creative sector which is worth about £800m to the North East economy with the potential to create about 9,000 jobs over the next four years.

For information on the wide package of support available to regional companies, call Business Link on 0845 600 9006 or visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast

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Media contact: Tom Willcox
European secretariat, One North East
0191 229 6805