The CoSTAR National Lab launches SubStack blog

Posted: 30 April 2025

Silhouetted hands hold a smartphone up to photograph a panel discussion on a stage at a live event; the phone screen shows the panelists against a bright, leafy backdrop with audience heads in the foreground.

The CoSTAR National Lab has launched a blog sharing their learnings from ongoing work around creative technology research to help grow the UK’s creative economy.

Research is powered through six long-range “Futures” programmes prioritising ‘AI Futures’, ‘CreaTech Futures’, ‘User Futures’, ‘Creative Futures’, ‘Business Futures’ and ‘Inclusive Futures’.

As the work of the CoSTAR National Lab progresses, this blog will take you on deep dives into each of these Futures, the resulting projects, collaborations and prototypes that emerge from them and the people behind them.

The blog launches with a fascinating four-part series from the CoSTAR Prototyping Team in an exploration into the potential of Gaussian Splatting, an emerging capture and rendering technique which offers exciting opportunities for accessible, high-fidelity 3D representations.

Some of this potential has been expertly demonstrated by directors Edmund Fraser and Dave Meyers in their recent work with static Gaussian Splats. The NYT has also been exploring the form as a fresh medium for visual storytelling.

Intrigued, our National Lab Prototyping team set out to better understand the technology in its current form and its applications in the creative sector. Our explorations took us across time and space: from static to dynamic motion capture.

Dynamic contemporary dance on a dark stage: a shirtless male dancer with arms extended in the foreground, surrounded by a blurred group of dancers in varied outfits.

Dive into their findings from their introductory blog (the first of a four part series) “The Promise of Dynamic Gaussian Splatting” and hit Subscribe to receive regular updates.

You can also receive alerts about the CoSTAR National Lab’s events and how to apply for funding to join our access programmes by signing up to the Opportunities section.