Belfast City Hall was buzzing at a special showcase event on 3 April 2025, with glimpses of how the future of tourism could look, thanks to immersive technologies including augmented, virtual, and mixed reality.
The event, hosted by Belfast City Council’s City Innovation team, brought expert speakers, businesses and policy makers together to get a first look at cutting-edge proof-of-concept designs for visitor-led tourism experiences, and to gain the latest insights into how immersive technologies could enhance visitor attractions of the future, including Belfast Stories.
It marked the end of the second phase of the ‘Augment the City’ industry competition, funded by the Belfast Region City Deal and Belfast City Council. This competition challenges innovators to explore how immersive technologies can enhance the collection of stories, particularly from lesser heard voices across our city. The innovations may help shape the plans for Belfast Stories, which will open on Royal Avenue by 2030.
Augment the City has provided both financial assistance and state-of-the-art wireless digital connectivity to innovators to help develop their prototypes.
High Sheriff of Belfast, Councillor Fiona McAteer said: “Today has been hugely inspirational and informative for those in the Belfast region who are planning and commissioning world-class experiences and attractions.
“The Belfast Region City Deal is making significant investments in our local tourism offer – and it’s also enhancing our innovation capacity. It absolutely makes sense that we combine the two, so that developments like our planned Belfast Stories visitor attraction are better placed to offer cutting-edge experiences to help us achieve standout on the global tourism stage.”
As well as getting a first glimpse of six cutting-edge tech concepts, delegates heard from Beth McEvoy, Futurologist with Queen’s University Belfast, and from an expert panel hosted by Dave Vincent from Amazon Web Services.
Dr Adrian Johnston MBE, Chair of the Belfast Region City Deal’s Digital Advisory Board and Innovation Commissioner for Belfast added: “The Augment the City Challenge Fund has been true to our Belfast Region City Deal aims, encouraging collaboration with some of our most exciting creative digital companies while at the same time stimulating research and innovation investment in one of the region’s high growth sectors.”
The Augment the City Challenge Fund is part of Belfast City Council’s XR Belfast programme which provides a range of funding, skills development and business support to people working in Belfast’s innovation and creative industries sectors to help build their capacity in using and exploiting emerging technologies.
