BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY

The West Midlands region, which has long been a hotbed of entertainment games development, is leading the way in terms of both industry applications of Serious Games as well as academic research into the field. To continue to bolster its position as a key driver for the Serious Games industry, Advantage West Midlands has funded the Interactive Digital Media Project. Managed by Birmingham City University, the project’s key objective is to establish the region as the key player in this emerging industry by commissioning research, showcasing regional work, and expanding the market of potential buyers.

THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

WMG – Innovative Solutions is the home of the new Warwick Digital Laboratory which is currently being built on the main campus of the University of Warwick.  Renowned for its links with industry, WMG is now adding this major £50m project which will provide a home for its research activity in digitally based technologies and processes that will be linked to a broad range of industrial sectors.  Programmes will include work on visualisation technologies and applications, audio environments, experiential research & techniques, haptics and other sensory devices & regimes, e-security and serious games amongst others.  Several of the technologies and projects will link in to media and serious games applications as well as delivering new concepts in their own right.

One of the Interactive Digital Media projects that will directly link into the Lab and its activities is “Healthcare Simulators”.  Over 300 healthcare simulators have been identified to date across healthcare facilities in a number of European countries and are the subject of a European project to help standardise and improve their application for medical training and practice.  WMG will work with Warwick Medical School and other partners in the IDM Healthcare Simulators project to research and develop the potential for the use of serious games techniques in these applications and environments.

If you would like to take a virtual tour of the Digital Laboratory, use the webcam to watch the building progress or make your own assessment of how long before the roof matures then click on the link below.

http://www.warwickdigital.org.uk/

Colin.Davis@warwick.ac.uk

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

The University of Birmingham’s HIT Team has, since 2005, become recognised as an international leader in the human-centred development of serious games, courtesy both of internal research programmes and those associated with the University’s major role in the UK’s Human Factors Integration Defence Technology centre (www.hfidtc.com).

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

The Serious Games Institute (SGI) is based in Coventry University's Technology Park. The Institute aims to become an international centre of excellence for serious games and a model of best practice for regional development through technology innovation. The Institute provides a close interface between high-level applied academic research at Coventry University and leading edge technology companies in the field of game-based learning.

The SGI will have a particular focus on 3D collaborative multi-user environments and other games development platforms which can be harnessed for non-entertainment purposes.