The Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT)

Developing creative technology and engaging with the creative industries.

Using the latest technology, IOCT researchers in partnership with DMU research institutes and external companies seek to develop and use creative solutions for improving the quality life and pushing the boundaries of cultural horizons, these areas form the main focus of IOCT’s research activity.

Our core research team are made of members of research institutes and centres from across the university, the IOCT currently have more than 90 researchers working on 100 plus projects with over 30 PhD students.

The work undertaken combines areas such as Arts, Humanities, Science and Technology and are focussed upon the creative industries and those sectors that support supply chain activities related to them,  resulting in research clusters that include:

Artificial Intelligence in Action

Building on the groundbreaking work of the Centre for Computational Intelligence, this cluster of projects looks at the role of robots as intelligent mobile devices and creative computation.

Creative Writing
Projects use new media in a variety of creative contexts to explore the ways in which technologies are influencing content and production.

Mapping Creative Processes
A trans-disciplinary cluster of research projects, reviewing creativity what it is, how it happens and how it can be harnessed to improve innovation. Mapping Creative Processes allows the definition of the "creative process" instead of the ever elusive notion of creativity and gives the opportunity to integrate technologies from machine-learning and semantic web.

State-of-the-Art Technologies
Technologies continually evolve and this cluster of research projects uses the latest and most novel technologies in a range of research contexts for creative benefits.

Sonic Art and Soundscapes
This cluster of research projects comprises performative technologies which produce a rich and multifaceted soundscape of content for a variety of purposes. 

Performance and Production
Primarily about visual art, this cluster of research projects uses multimedia technologies to inform performance and production in both real and virtual environments.

Cultural Contexts
This cluster of activities and events represents the cultural and creative context in which emerging technologies and arts are explored by participants.

Visualising Leicester
Digital mapping is one of the fastest growing areas of the virtual-real world mixed-media environment.  This cluster of research projects aims to make the city of Leicester, UK, Europe most digitally mapped.

Some of the organisations IOCT have worked with:

• Antycip Simulations
• BBC Online (Childrens) and Radio Drama
• Centro Mexicano para la Musica y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS)
• Ideal Government
• Infoterra
• Institute for the Future
• Leicester City Council
• Leicester Royal Infirmary
• National Sound Archive
• Penguin Books
• Philharmonia Orchestra
• Phoenix Square Film & Digital Media Centre
• Pixel Lab

All of our research staff have worked in industry and have experience of working on commercially driven projects. 

Register now to meet the IOCT at the Technology Showcase or email us at tech-development@dmu.ac.uk.  For further information about the IOCT go to: http://www.ioct.dmu.ac.uk/