Innovation at the Intersection: Using STS to Enable University-Technology Sector Collaboration

• In Event: What STS Can Do: Innovations and Alternatives for STS Practice – I

Abstract

The UK government is promoting collaboration between the creative industries and universities, through the £33m Audiences of the Future programme and the £80m Creative Clusters programme. The initiatives enable what Etzkowitz et al would refer to as the ‘triple helix’ between universities, government and industry, with an emphasis on next-generation entertainment and arts production. Transferring knowledge from universities into the creative industries is a key part of the policy. This paper describes a project that aims to analyse and improve cross-sector collaboration using STS methods (including laboratory, infrastructure, and platform studies) in combination with narrative theory. The project is being developed by To Play For, a pioneer in interactive storytelling, and a team at King's College London involved in digital humanities, cultural studies, and ‘research software engineering’ (RSE). The teams have embedded a developer within To Play For, to contribute to narrative and technical development, and are developing a model for cross-sector collaboration through observation and process modelling. The goal is to improve the innovative potential of To Play For’s Charisma.ai immersive story-telling and game development engine. The primary result will be a demo based on an award-winning immersive theatre piece that will showcase Charisma’s ability to ‘remember’ user input and adapt the story experience accordingly, and a publishable collaborative model. The project sits at the intersection of STS, engineering, and the creative industries, demonstrating that meaningful knowledge transfer across these three domains is possible.

Authors

• James Smithies, King's Digital Lab

• Sarah Atkinson, King's College London

• Elliott Hall, King's College London

• Guy Gadney, To Play For

• Annette Parry, To Play For