A virtual reality specialist has been awarded nearly £230,000 to develop a product which helps prepare and educate pupils for field trips.
Daden, which is based at Innovation Birmingham Campus, has secured the capital from the UK's innovation agency Innovate UK for its initiative called 'Virtual Field Trips as a Service'.
The funding has been awarded in phase two of Innovate UK's Design for Impact Competition which aims to identify and support technology that has been proved in pilot projects in education but is yet to have a national impact.
Daden, working with The Open University, the Field Studies Council and Birmingham-based Design Thinkers UK, has been awarded the funding to develop its product as a national service for schools and universities.
The funding will enable the development of a prototype system, and a full trial and assessment with both universities and schools, the latter facilitated by working closely with one of the Field Studies Council's own field study centres.
From November last year to April, Daden worked with teachers and students at Washwood Heath Academy in Birmingham, virtual world educators in Second Life, university lecturers at a Royal Geological Society workshop and other stakeholders to understand the potential, challenges and key features of any virtual field trip service.
Managing director David Burden said: "We are really proud to be one of the projects chosen by Innovate UK to receive this investment. There was some stiff competition and we were up against some other very innovative and exciting ideas.
"The funding gives us the opportunity to develop an immersive 3D environment that is optimised for educational use, yet flexible enough to let educators create and customise content.
"Almost everyone we've spoken to has not only seen how virtual field trips can be a natural complement for physical field trips but also how the technology could be used to provide a wide range of virtual experiences in support of other subjects, from history to languages."
He said the Virtual Field Trips as a Service initiative was intended to support rather than replace physical field trips.
Its aim is to help students and staff prepare better for a field trip and can provide additional context and a focus for post-field trip data analysis, revision, virtual visits to comparative sites and a catch-up for those who have missed the physical trip.
A 12-month time-scale has been set for completion of the project, by which point Daden and its partners should be in a position to start taking Virtual Field Trips as a Service to market.
As well as addressing desktop and mobile delivery, the project will also be looking at using the latest generation of virtual reality headsets.
Daden is one of 20 early-stage tech companies receiving support from Innovation Birmingham's 'e4f Inspire' programme which delivers workshops, events, entrepreneur dinners and off-site visits in a bid to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial tech companies.
