Economic Development

Marketing Talent and Technology

The tools prototyped through RENCI at UNC Asheville can be marketed to urban planners and science educators in other watersheds. In addition the talent used to create these tools will be promoted on a national scale to attract technology based companies to Asheville.

The Decision Theatre Concept is one such tool that municipalities can use to communicate data to decision makers in a visual format. The prototype for this product will be tested on several display formats at the Enka Engagement Site: a vis wall, immersive dome, high resolution projector, and a high resolution 47inch plasma tv. The visualizations themselves will be created directly from data. This will enable urban planning teams to try different scenarios and see what the outcome would be based on past data.

The Immersive Dome created here in Asheville by Eluminati has been marketed world wide. However content that can be played in the dome is not widely available. The Media Arts Project is leading the creation of content for the immersive dome. Short educational movies and interactive videogames will incorporate the concepts taught in outreach classes by RiverLink, The NC Arboretum, and Colburn Earth Science Museum. The development of this process will open an opportunity for media artists and scientists to provide a unique product to a niche market.

The first such movie Water in Water in Western North Carolina has received positive attention at the recent technology conference in San Francisco. This first product will take children and adults on an eventful ride throught the atmosphere to the ocean in a 2 minute trip of a raindrop as it falls in the Swananoa watershed.

• HUB Project
• Technology Commercialization Center
• Elumenati
• Media Arts Project