ALREADY IN 2023 there’s been one major technological innovation—AI chatbots—to hit the mainstream. With companies constantly working on the next big thing it can be hard to keep up with the latest, especially in an ever-evolving field such as technology. 

In March, we got a glimpse at some of the innovations in creative technology that are coming out of the UK—thanks, in part, to its size and population density (the UK is a little bit smaller than Oregon state, but with 60 million more people), companies are able to share ideas and collaborate on projects easily and quickly. There were four companies—in the wearables, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality spaces, respectively—that caught our attention for their innovation.

While wearable technology has been around for many years—smartwatches have been around for almost 10 years—now, in the age of customization, we’re seeing innovations move from a watch that tells you your heart rate to clothing that can monitor athletes’ lower limb movements to help avoid injury.

The latter is exactly what Movetru is doing. Founded in 2020 by Naomi McGregor, Movetru uses embedded sensors in clothing and machine learning to identify an athlete’s injuries or potential for injury, sending information in real time to their phones so they can track their movements and recovery personally. 

The idea for Movetru was born from McGregor’s own experience with the injury rehabilitation process, after she injured her knee while ballet dancing at 14;it took three years and eight specialists to diagnose the problem. With Movetru, McGregor is aiming to put the power back in the athletes’ hands.

While machine learning is poised to help athletes, AI’s potential applications across industries is also becoming clearer. AI chatbots have been dominating the news cycle for how quickly and thoroughly they can answer almost any prompt given to them, and while there’s still a ways to go, there is at least one industry that could gain a lot from AI in the short term—gaming.

Imagine jumping into an open-world game and interacting with AI characters that not only feel real, but give each player a unique and evolving experience. That’s now possible, thanks to Charisma, which dubs its product as “real-time digital humans.”

Charisma displayed one of its digital humans—an avatar of British NFL player Efe Obada—during a four-day activation at UK House in Austin, Texas, in March. When Obada’s digital avatar asked him whether there are a lot of gamers in the NFL, Obada responded: “Yeah, it’s huge.”

“Probably about 90% of the locker room are gamers. In our downtime, because the game is so demanding physically and emotionally, we just want to have something that takes you away from that and so for a lot of people it’s gaming.”

Another industry that is embracing AI, and technology as a whole, is art. The intersection of art and technology isn’t necessarily new—we’ve all heard of NFTs—but the immersive art space especially is creating or adapting technology to suit its needs.

In the main courtyard at UK House, we experienced an immersive art installation from 2LK—an agency that creates unique tech-driven activations—dubbed Wonderscape. A real-time digital sculpture, Wonderscape responded to our voice, touch, and movement, and used that data to adapt and change—it was engaging, and that is the point. 2LK wants people to be more focused and present, so Wonderscape was built to reward attention and exploration.

Another company, Picture This Productions, also on display in Austin this March, demonstrates how the UK is transforming this sector. Time Investigators (US title), is the world's first multi-sensory augmented reality game. Aimed at engaging family audiences with diverse stories from history, the game turns players into time-traveling detectives tasked with using sight, sound, and smell to investigate mysteries from the past.

In a digital age where we’re feeling lonelier than ever before—47%of Americans feel like they don’t have meaningful personal connections, according to one study—the shift in using technology to engage and connect people in a deep way is a welcome one.

With these UK-based companies—and others in the space—we’re closer than ever before to a creative economy that not only embraces technology, but uses data and AI to create meaningful experiences that enhance people’s lives.

This story was produced by WIRED Brand Lab for UK Department for Business and Trade.