The 2022 Immersive Economy Report brings you the latest insights and data on the immersive tech sector in the UK and the high value global growth areas of the future.
Launched on 19th October 2022, this report was co-authored by Immerse UK and Oxford Insights & Data City, funded through the UK Research and Innovation ‘Audience of the Future’ Challenge Fund. It provides an overview of the scale, nature, and economic value of the UK’s virtual, augmented, and mixed reality ecosystem; examines the immersive technology marketplace and organisations involved; and analyses the economic value derived across different sectors and regions in the UK.
The 2022 Immersive Economy Report examines trends in the immersive industry in the aftermath of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It identifies the key trends in technology adoption and business model transformation in the UK emerging in the wake of the pandemic, and aims to inform policymakers, businesses and investors of the key application growth areas, the investment landscape, and success stories that have emerged from government-funded R&D programs.
Report summary
Our key findings:
- The immersive economy has grown considerably in recent years.
- A significant proportion of immersive economy companies are micro-SMEs.
- Access to finance and skills remain the key barriers to industry growth.
- The pandemic was generally viewed to have been a net positive for the industry.
- The most common application growth areas for companies to be operating in are Education and Training and Entertainment and Media.
- Although regional innovation programmes are beginning to deliver for immersive, underlying economic factors still drive the industry.
- The Metaverse is now a central part of the immersive economy – bringing with it a series of new challenges.
- The Audience of the Future and Creative Industries Clusters Programmes have been an influential part of the funding landscape for immersive companies since 2018.
- Private investment in immersive technologies reached a new yearly high in 2021 and looks set to rise further in 2022.
- New policy positions are required to address challenges that are arising.