The Bett Awards are a celebration of the inspiring creativity and innovation that can be found throughout technology for education.
A glittering ceremony for this year’s BETT Awards, saw the University of Portsmouth and technical solutions specialist White Light (WL) win the ‘Innovator of the Year’ accolade. This follows the launch in May 2022, of the University’s brand-new £7 million Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality (CCIXR).
The Bett Awards are a celebration of the inspiring creativity and innovation that can be found throughout technology for education.
CCIXR group award photo.
CCIXR is the UK’s first purpose-built facility bringing together a whole suite of the very latest extended reality (XR) technologies under one roof to support innovation in virtual, augmented and extended realities.
Key to the Centre’s development is an innovation partnership with WL – as a pioneer in XR solutions. The facility is equipped with the entire immersive technologies’ toolkit and features WL’s SmartStage® as its centrepiece. As the cornerstone of the immersive pipeline, SmartStage enables staff, students and the University’s wealth of national and global partners, to engage with a diverse range of content in innovative new ways.
CCIXR has changed the game for learning in the XR and broader immersive technologies sector:
- Partnered with the Royal Shakespeare Company to produce Dream, an immersive XR reimagining of Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was experienced live by 70,000 people, over 10 performances in 151 countries.
- CCIXR was a partner and collaborator for WeShine, the first-ever immersive light Festival in Portsmouth, using digital technology to bring together a wide range of artist’s work.
- Through the Enabling XR Enterprise (eXRe) project, CCIXR has helped more than 100 organisations to find out about XR and experience the technology first-hand.
The BETT Awards judging panel commented: “This was a truly exciting innovation which encouraged creativity in a new space with SmartStage at the heart of the new Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality – bringing together education and businesses to explore new technology for new opportunities.”
Technical Director of CCIXR, Alex Counsell, said: “It is a privilege to win this award amongst such a strong field, and it is a testament to all of the hard work that the team here at the University of Portsmouth has put in over the last three years.
It is a privilege to win this award amongst such a strong field, and it is a testament to all of the hard work that the team here at the University of Portsmouth has put in over the last three years.
“Having White Light as a key partner to deliver SmartStage at the heart of our centre, has been invaluable and working closely with them moving forward will allow us to push innovation in XR and Virtual production. This will be key to addressing the skills gap that the XR industry is facing at present.”
WL’s Technical Solutions Director, Andy Hook added: “We are very proud to have been pivotal to the launch of this world-leading centre of excellence in XR training and research and development across a multi-faceted range of applications.
“Our ongoing innovation partnership with the University of Portsmouth is critical to harnessing the potential of current and future emerging technologies. Winning the BETT Award is a fantastic celebration of that.”