The media lab at the university of the West of England, Bristol

This article describes the background and early steps undertaken to establish a Media Lab at the University of the West of England. The Media Lab is an industry‐related research and development facility for creative technology projects involving new media; for example, interactive storytelling in virtual reality, distributed media production, visualisation of the environment, automatic set design and the development of digital media devices and services. The project is described under the headings: background, project activities, implementation issues, impact on the local economy, and lessons learned.