DREEm: aims to support experience providers in developing strategies for digital products which enhance physical experiences; investigate modes of delivery and monetisation, as well as policy instruments required to sustain place-based offers; and produce tools to help support economic recovery. The range of experience providers includes: theatres, museums, galleries, historical sites, event organisers, gaming companies, post-production companies, virtual effects companies, tour operators/travel agencies, destination management organisations, catering and accommodation providers.

DREEm: partnerships include 20 industry stakeholders from across the experience economy and 3 Creative Research and Development Partnerships (CRDP), from the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Creative Industries Clusters Programme. This programme brings together world-class research talent from across the UK, to accelerate growth in a range of creative sectors and aim to create jobs and drive the creation of companies, products and experiences that can be marketed around the world, significantly contributing to UK economic growth both regionally and nationally.

DREEm: outputs include:

  • Working group: an interdisciplinary working group comprised of professionals in the creative, cultural and tourism sectors
  • Bulletin: a monthly newsletter collating monthly developments and commentary across the experience economy
  • Mapping: utilising expertise in data modelling, we will provide an estimate of the size and scale of the experience economy, identifying hot spots of experience activity
  • Toolkit: developed to help experience economy industries adopt digital means of delivery as a part of a resilience strategy
  • Digital tool: beta-stage software tool to support places that depend on experience economy activities to assess and model different digital resilience/recovery scenarios
  • Network: a network for creative freelancers, disrupting the current lack of connection within the industry
  • Policy: a policy paper on developing digital strategies for place-based experience economy resilience
  • Funding: an evidence base to support funding applications for research, R&D and other relevant funding mechanisms; local and national Gov. funding; trusts and other opportunities

DREEm: is working across the experience economy, integrating four key areas:

  • Creative: collaborating with organisations across the creative and cultural sectors, we are supporting the ideation and development of digital adaptation and economic resilience strategies, informing the strategic response to the pandemic
  • Visitor: working with bodies across the tourism sectors, our research informs digital strategies for tourism organisations
  • Digital: providing an interface between experience operators and digital creatives, we collaborate with production companies and freelancers, mobilising the state-of-the-art in digital production to innovate within the experience economy
  • Networks: we collaborate with other existing networks across the creative, cultural and visitor sectors, towards the development of policy initiatives and experience research