Digital vision

Jul 30 2008 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette

DIGITAL developers have tipped Teesside to become the new "Silicon Valley" for developing next-generation virtual trading environment software, modelled on the popular web-based social networking phenomenon, Second Life.

Computer programmers heading up the mind-bending project at the University of Teesside’s dlab are already in talks with international retailers over the use of emerging third dimension (3D) technology, which allows them to test consumer reaction to products in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world where customers live parallel lives selecting, buying and using products that don’t yet exist.

Retailers are said to be “very interested” in the possibilities presented by the technology, which is described as being the most radical breakthrough since the development of the internet itself.

Brian Wilson, director of dlab - a team of designers, researchers and digital specialists at the university’s Institute of Digital Innovation - believes the retail sector is a “hot ticket” for business to exploit the 3D internet economy, but he said it also holds out the possibility of a range of additional commercial applications.

He said: “It would be great if we could create on Teesside a Silicon Valley for the 3D internet economy - a new economy on which new enterprises can flourish.

“We aim to develop multiple research labs which focus on niche areas of activity in the 3D internet world. We do not yet know the full capability of this world, which could turn out to be as radical a step as the creation of the internet in the first place.”

The technology could be applied to projects as diverse as building an office block, developing a new pair of jeans, or reconstructing an airport, saving businesses millions of pounds in costly trials and changing the face of new product development forever.

An infinite number of software applications could be built on the core technology being developed on Teesside, allowing companies to build a virtual product and test it in the third dimension before committing money on production, reducing the huge financial risk often associated with exploring the commercial viability of research and ideas.

The research capitalises on the growing popularity of virtual trading among consumers, who have demonstrated they are happy to shop until they drop in a parallel consumer paradise. Around the world, shoppers spend an estimated £1.5bn on virtual items each year, using their credit and debit cards to fund a doppelganger existence on the net.

Online shopping is the only retail sector showing significant sustained growth, despite the credit crunch. Globally it has risen by 40% (or 875m consumers) in the last two years.