For companies and creatives

The XR Stories immersive research and development lab is the hub for creative technology innovation in York and North Yorkshire.

Located in York city centre, the state-of-the-art facility provides a unique space for businesses to develop and deliver commercial projects.

The facilities hire provision also extends to costing hire of the lab into project submissions to funding providers and programmes including Innovate UK and Arts Council England (ACE). From April 2026, digital arts will be recognised as an artform across all ACE funding programmes. 

The lab facility features a flexible virtual production test stage and a suite of cutting edge equipment and technology spanning performance capture, spatial audio, virtual reality, and game development. Facilitative support from the XR Stories Creative Technician is included as part of the hire package. 

The hire service sits alongside XR Stories’ support programmes including creative business residencies and creative technology skills training, that provide opportunities to access the lab to undertake research and development activities, or to develop skills in creative and digital technologies.  

Download the XR Stories facilities hire brochure for all lab and equipment specifications. Hire rates will be made available upon submission of the facilities hire enquiry form which is also linked in the brochure.

3D lab model

The XR Stories creative business residency programme provides opportunities for businesses to elevate the digital side of their projects using our state-of-the-art lab facility to incubate new ideas and carry out productive research and development.

Open to businesses and individuals working in York and North Yorkshire, the residencies provide an opportunity for successful applicants to use the XR Stories immersive technology lab as their own workspace. With support from the XR Stories creative technician, the XR Stories residency programme offers a unique opportunity to tap into specialist expertise and infrastructure. 

Applications for the XR Stories 2026 creative business residency programme will open later this year. Please subscribe to our communications and follow us on LinkedIn or BlueSky for news about all XR Stories activities and opportunities.

XR Stories supports internships to enable University of York students to gain valuable experience working in industry, backed by support from the XR Stories team. 

We work with the University of York’s York Internship programme to facilitate connections between companies and students, providing R&D expertise and facilities support to augment creative projects. 

The York Internship programme offers students a paid placement of up to 12 weeks to work on a creative project with an industry partner. 

If you are interested in how an intern could be useful to your business, or if you would like to fund an intern, please get in touch at [email protected].