More than 50 businesses attended an afternoon of innovation at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and Bournemouth University (BU), showcasing the very best of innovation and creativity in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP).
Organised by The Spark, a co-working space for start-ups, the Co:Create Innovation event took place on Thursday 17 April. Designed to inspire, connect and provoke new ideas, the afternoon of discovery brought together the visionary teams at AUB, BU, and The Spark for a powerful celebration of what's possible when business and innovation come together.
Dan Ware, Founder of The Spark, says, “As a dynamic hub for entrepreneurial energy, The Spark is all about collaboration and community-led innovation in BCP, and that’s the ethos reflected in this event."
The afternoon kicked off at AUB, with a showcase of some of the most imaginative and impactful projects to emerge from the region. This included the story of Shudu, the world's first digital supermodel; the pioneering partnership between AUB and ThruDark, a Poole-based high-performance outerwear brand; and the presentation of the world’s first VR-to-physical garments.
Cameron-James Wilson, founder of The Diigitals and creator of Shudu, talked through his work at the Design; Disruption; Divergence exhibition at TheGallery, as well as his work at The Diigitals, the world's first all-digital modelling agency.
“The launch of Shudu has excited and piqued the interest of a lot of my high-profile clients," he says. "I’ve been working with them to create virtual avatars and explore other ways they can incorporate AI into their branding. In layman’s terms, imagine Alexa was an Alexa, a virtual person with a social media account and photos. That’s what we’re making for these brands – that’s the future of marketing.”
Following Cameron-James, Penelope Norman, co-author of MA Digital Fashion Innovation and MA Innovation Creativity and Entrepreneurship at AUB, shared an update on the incredible collaboration with ThruDark in the form of the University’s first Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).
A KTP is a UK Government scheme funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through Innovate UK, the government's innovation agency. KTPs link forward-thinking businesses with the UK's world-class knowledge bases to deliver innovation projects led by inspired graduates. Each collaboration has three partners – the business, the graduates, and the academics – working together, via a KTP, on an innovation project of strategic importance to the business.
“The project will digitally transform ThruDark's new product development process to realise growth potential and reduce its carbon footprint," explains Penelope. “The key objectives of the project are to improve the productivity of new product development by 33%, improve garment fit and therefore reduce the number of product returns by 35%, and reduce the number of samples required to develop new products by 50%.
“A huge 80% of a garment’s environmental impact can be addressed at the design stage. It’s my goal to help designers and product developers in the fashion industry make a positive impact through the implementation of digital design, prototyping and production methods, and to educate graduates to support and drive these positive changes in the industry.
“We’re four months into this pioneering partnership now, and – pending peer review – the KTP is already producing valuable research outputs that will be published through upcoming conferences and journals.
“We’re here to work with any business in any industry that’s looking for creative, innovative, and interdisciplinary solutions for how to improve efficiencies, sustainability, and to become pioneers in their fields; that’s our mission and driving force.”
Also speaking at the sold-out event was Holly New, the ‘world’s first fully VR fashion designer’. Currently studying MA Digital Fashion Innovation at AUB, Holly presented two of the world’s first VR-to-physical garments, as well as the collaborative VR design workflows that have redefined how she creates, communicates, and translates fashion into the real world entirely from a virtual space.
“From intuitive ideation to real-world garment production, this is a glimpse into a scalable future for digital fashion,” Holly explains. “Now, I’m working on launching educational resources and strategic consultancy for brands who want to integrate VR into their design pipeline.”
Following the inspirational speakers, the businesses toured AUB Campus, taking in the Innovation Studio and its impressive array of technologies available to hire including 3D manufacturing machines, 3D printers, 3D scanners, VR suite, testing facilities and more.
The tour continued into the Materials Library, then on to the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP) – the UK's leading resource for the study and interpretation of design in plastics and specialist research resource – and finally to the TheGallery to view Design; Disruption; Divergence, an exhibition looking at how Generative AI is impacting artists’ practice.
Penelope adds, “This was the opportunity for both local businesses and those from further afield to step into the beating heart of creative production where bold research meets real-world application.
“It’s imperative that we continue collaborating with industry to ensure that creative solutions enhance and improve our processes and output. These close relationships with businesses also give us valuable insight into what industry needs from our students. As a creative and innovative university, we’re ideally placed to do this and today was a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of these exciting projects.”
