https://www.wiredsussex.com/blogpost/1315756/wired-sussex-successfully-hosts-a-fourth-cohort-to-test-5g
By Helen
Posted on 3 days ago
What an achievement! Our fourth cohort for the 5G Testbed Accelerator just completed their 20 week programme, in collaboration with Digital Catapult. The programme empowers companies to discover, develop and test next generation 5G.
We spoke to Bushra Burge (Founder and Creative Director of the award winning BB Studio) one of the residents on the programme, who created an immersive web multicultural festival called Brick Lane Festival.
Tell us about your project:
Brick Lane Festival is an immersive world, setting the scene for conversations, storytelling and festivities for the Bangladeshi diaspora to celebrate with everyone. This area, with a long history of different immigrant groups, is now itself losing its cultural authenticity to gentrification. Its heritage lives now through post-nostalgia of when we first experienced the UK, holding onto memories of back home.
How did you use the 5G accelerator programme to work on your project?
The accelerator programme made me rethink how to design and develop rich multiplayer immersive worlds for a multicultural audience on different devices for a global outreach. It made me really consider how to distribute immersive worlds optimally and how we can interact in these worlds with the least amount of barriers without compromising on the cultural beauty.
How did the programme benefit you?
I benefited from the programme by having access to Wired Sussex and the Fusebox in Brighton which has a 5G testbed. There were also a number of workshops which demystified the technology, highlighted practical considerations including the cost of 5G setups and showed me the potential.
What are your future plans with the project you have created?
Brick Lane Festival will be a platform as an addition to community centres for established community groups to run events and have conversations. This project has sparked other ideas and I would like to evolve this concept to create a multi user immersive biannual magazine celebrating Art, Fashion, Beauty and Travel curated with sustainable and ethical themes. Each edition will platform a different cultural diaspora collaged into new worlds which are fast becoming old.
You can find out more and follow Bushra Burge’s work on her website
Find out more about 5G and everyone involved in the fourth cohort of the programme here.
Applications for the fifth cohort for the Tech Accelerator Programme will open soon.
About the author
Helen Brown
I help to promote our core services which includes promoting our membership and jobs board, marketing our renowned FuseBox innovation hub, and sharing our work behind supporting a socially positive digital sector.