New technology being developed in Glasgow to
dramatically cut the cost of making television
programmes has benefited from a slice of a £1
million package to help Scottish innovators.
The £200,000 award to create virtual film sets
was announced as part of a Scottish Executive
strategy to ensure that world-beating research
achieves commercial success. Enterprise and
lifelong learning minister Wendy Alexander said
the new cash was being allocated by the Proof
of Concept Fund, managed by Scottish Enterprise.
Innovative Thinking
She said: "Scotlands academics have long
deserved their international reputation for
innovative thinking but, historically, we have
lagged behind in bringing new products and processes
to the market place and using them as a foundation
for business success. This fund underpins our
drive to ensure this world-class research and
innovation is translated into jobs and businesses
for Scotland."
The scheme has already funded a number of projects
including anti-cancer drugs, personal alarms
for elderly and disabled people, systems on
chip technology, processes for assessing the
quality of meat and the next generation games
technology.
Ms Alexander added: "Not only do these have
huge commercial potential, a number of them
will have a real impact on peoples everyday
lives."
Virtual Locations
Computer scientists at Glasgow and Edinburgh
are developing digital technology which could
dramatically reduce the cost of film-making
and television production. They are applying
the latest laser scanning techniques to create
"virtual film sets" which could eventually replace
costly studio sets and cut the time crews spend
on location.
Roy Middleton, director of Edinburgh Virtual
Environment Centre at the University of Edinburgh,
which is working in tandem with 3D-MATIC at
the University of Glasgow, said: "This project
provides the opportunity to combine the complementary
talents of two of Scotlands leading academic
research centres in the capture and simulation
of reality."
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