Geomerics and UCL Secure Major Research and Development Grant

Wednesday 12th March/... Geomerics, the Cambridge-based company specialising in advanced graphics technology for computer games, has revealed details of a new research collaboration to keep them at the forefront of lighting technology for years to come. This follows the successful launch of its first product, Enlighten, at the Game Developer's Conference held in San Francisco during February 2008.

Geomerics will further develop its revolutionary lighting technology in a collaboration with UCL (University College London). This project with UCL is co-funded by the Technology Strategy Board's Collaborative Research and Development programme, following an open competition. The three year project will receive investment of £525,000 from the technology Strategy Board, with Geomerics receiving £330,000 and UCL £195,000.

Welcoming the new partnership, Science and Innovation Minister, Ian Pearson said:

"The UK's future global competitiveness depends on innovation. The UK has world class expertise in graphics and we are a global leader across the creative industries, which now contribute over 8% of the country's GDP. If the UK is to maintain and extend its role as the world's creative hub, we need to continue to develop the new, exciting and innovative technologies that will underpin the creative industries in the years to come. This is why we are pleased to support this project, which will bring new and exciting technology to the games industry."

Geomerics COO, Chris Doran, commented "I am delighted that we been awarded this grant. It is the second successive award for us, and shows that the government is serious about funding research in the creative industries. Our company philosophy is to be a driving force for bringing new technology to the games industry, and this grant will help ensure that our research and development vision can be fully realised".

Dr Jan Kautz, Lecturer in Computer Science at UCL added "I am excited about collaborating with an industrial partner in an area where it has been difficult to get new results from research into actual products. This grant will allow us to develop new lighting methods that will have a direct impact on future computer games".

As games and interactive entertainment evolves, one of the biggest challenges facing developers is that of generating greater realism. Geomerics has already taken a major step in this direction with its revolutionary lighting technology, Enlighten. But as hardware evolves so too must software, pushing on to ever greater levels of quality. The ultimate challenge is to light fully dynamic worlds completely in real time, and this is the ultimate goal of the research that Geomerics and UCL will be undertaking.

Geomerics Ltd

Geomerics is an innovation-led company specialising in graphics software for the games industry and beyond. It is built on a combination of advanced in-house IP, a remarkable research team, and strong management experience. The company's first product is Enlighten. Enlighten radically transforms the way that lighting is handled in computer games. Instead of pre-baking the effects of global illumination into the scene they can now be computed at run time, allowing for fully dynamic lighting. This dramatically enhances realism as well as opening up a new world of creative possibilities for designers and artists.

Further information can be found on www.geomerics.com

University College London

Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence.

UCL is in the top ten world universities in the 2007 THES-QS World University Rankings, and the fourth-ranked UK University in the 2007 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Marie Stopes, Jonathan Dimbleby, Lord Woolf, Alexander Graham Bell, and members of the band Coldplay.

The Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive non-departmental public body, established by the government. Its mission is to promote and support research into, and development and exploitation of, technology and innovation for the benefit of UK business, in order to increase economic growth and improve the quality of life. It is sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). For further information please visit www.innovateuk.org.