Immersive tech partnership takes a leap into the future

An exciting new partnership between the University of Adelaide and Light Adelaide, the city’s new home for creativity and hospitality, will see the boundaries of immersive reality stretched beyond the imagination.

Students and researchers from the University’s Immersive Media program will work with Light Adelaide at the cutting-edge of immersive technology to build the interactive and visual experiences of the future.

“Immersive technology is rapidly evolving to create an entirely new category of experience. Light Adelaide, with its innovative LED screen array, has the potential to revolutionise the way we create and interact with digital content,” says the University of Adelaide’s Steve Cook, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Realities Extended Business Unit in the School of Humanities.

“Collaborative interactive art, virtual production, live hybrid performances, interaction design research, and product/asset visualisation, are just some of the areas we plan to experiment with in our partnership.

“Previously, students have not had access to create public-facing dynamic experiences using this kind of technology – but now we have it right here in the Adelaide CBD.”

“Immersive technology is rapidly evolving to create an entirely new category of experience. Light Adelaide, with its innovative LED screen array, has the potential to revolutionise the way we create and interact with digital content."Steve Cook, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Realities Extended Business Unit in the School of Humanities, the University of Adelaide.

Nick Dunstone, co-founder of Light Adelaide, is excited about what the partnership could create.

“Sophie and I started Light Adelaide to give Australia’s creative community access to this new wave of technology – which we see as a key part of the future of creative expression and storytelling,” says Mr Dunstone.

“Dynamic immersive spaces provide extraordinary opportunities for artists to perform in any virtual environment– be it a real or imagined space. The LED walls “drop away” to become extensions of the physical room – and ultimately provide a new dimension to engage audiences and tell stories.

“We saw an immediate fit for the work being produced by the talent at the University of Adelaide, which will demonstrate what this kind of technology is capable of.”

Many of the University’s recent graduates from the immersive media technology program are being snapped up by local employers for their world-class software and design skills.

“We have established our own Realities Extended Business Unit at the University because there is an insatiable demand for these kind of skills, not just in Adelaide but around the country and abroad,” said Mr Cook.

Onnie Chan is a student in the Masters of Immersive Media program at the University of Adelaide who moved to South Australia specifically to study this degree.

“The partnership between the University of Adelaide and Light Adelaide will open doors to more career opportunities,” she says.

“Light Adelaide is more than just a virtual production studio; the interactive nature of the space can give students a greater opportunity to research and experiment different concepts and ideas.”

About Light Adelaide

Light Adelaide is a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity designed to be a beacon for creativity while maintaining a focus on the wellbeing of its people. It is a space where creativity, technology and hospitality blend to create breathtaking, innovative experiences. Light consists of a number of hospitality and immersive venues including award-winning restaurant Aurora and immersive performance space The Lab.

About the University of Adelaide’s Realities Extended business unit

Realities Extended brings cutting-edge immersive technology and research services to business, government and industry. By fostering an exceptional pool of talent from within our Immersive Media Technology educational programs together with University of Adelaide research groups and key industry partners, Realties Extended designs and develops Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality, as well as web-based 3D and 2D content.