Performance training and live performances are heavily impacted by the covid-19 crisis. Musicians and performing artists are now training in home spaces, visually and acoustically poor in comparison to real venues, limiting their rehearsing effectiveness and with their livelihoods in peril as live performance venues remain closed. Recent research shows that 94% of the UK's music workforce is self-employed, with musicians set for financial devastation with losses so far totalling £13.9m. Furthermore, home spaces bear no resemblance, visually and acoustically, to rehearsing and performing spaces, limiting performers' training effectiveness. There is an urgent need to a) improve rehearsing conditions at home and b) to provide new opportunities for monetising performances while venues remain closed. To address these urgent needs, the project will develop a Virtual Reality (VR) application, combining visual 3D models and accurate binaural acoustic rendering of real performance spaces to a) give musicians and performers the sense of rehearsing as if in real performing spaces and b) to record and perform to broader audiences, monetising their performances. A musician rehearsing will feel as if they are on stage and hear their music or performance with the acoustics of that room through their headphones. When performing, their video will appear on stage and the sound as if recorded in the real venue. Similarly, the audience will be able to "sit", watch and listen to these performances as if they are in the real performing venue, potentially opening up monetising opportunities aligned with the Virtual Audiences challenge of ISCF. The project benefits performers, who urgently need and would be able to train more effectively from their homes. It helps the recovery of creative sectors, as it opens up the potential to monetise personalised performances in VR space. It also benefits society engaging more with art performances, as CPS research shows that arts engagement is beneficial with current loss of performances negatively impacting the well-being of audiences. The Extension for Impact will help pivot the project from the “proof of concept” phase to “Investor-ready”. Iconic venue commitment, high-quality performances and a solid business model will lead to an investor ready pitch. To achieve this we will a) engage with iconic venues, carrying out demos and secure collaboration with three Venues (e.g. South Bank, Wigmore Hall) b) develop a Web front-end populated with high-quality performances by Royal College of Music and potential partners, to help scale up our VR platform, add credibility for investors and attract audiences and musicians, c) validate and refine the business model based on learnings from venues and performers on best commercial options including revenue sharing, licensing and fremium models and d) create a strong “investment pitch” combining the above outcomes.

The project will investigate the viability of Advanced Augmented Reality (AAR) which makes AR more accessible and personalised to the user. It will identify barriers to adoption and new routes to market. Our aim is to verify the market for an AAR capability platform (EasiAR) that can facilitate the growth of this technology, initially in healthcare and education publishing. We believe this is the right time to carry out a thorough PoM, building on confidence and AR technology adoption illustrated by existing use cases in market segments such as mobile computing, military, construction, transport, education and healthcare . AR use is gaining momentum in medical and educational publishing, with increased development already anticipated over the coming years. Following discussions with our current clients, we believe there is demand to go beyond gimmicks to use AAR for serious applications in these sectors. This project moves the proposition away from conventional AR, which started as a marker based tracking tool providing a live view of a real-world environment augmented by computergenerated sensory inputs – sound, video, graphics or GPS data. AAR is advanced and more commercially viable, as it is markerless and can track real world images and, potentially, objects. If integrated with personalised data about the user or the environment (using for example sensors, or user data, e-health system data etc) AAR will enable personalisation of richer interactions and generate a wealth of potential for applications in more industries. This includes potential for advanced capabilities for hardware development eg furthering Google Glass technology. We have extensive expertise and experience in AR technology in commercial and research environments. We will analyse commercial viability within our primary markets and explore potential use cases to justify and inform technological development of EasiAR.