Disney Investing In New Park Technology

[tjcjr]

Disney is going to college.
The entertainment company said Monday that it is underwriting research and development labs at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.
The R&D labs will conduct work in computer animation, computational cinematography, autonomous interactive characters, robotics and user interfaces that can then be used at Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Disney's Parks & Resorts division, Disney Media Networks, ESPN, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and Disney Interactive Media Group.
"Creating the next generation of sophisticated technologies requires long-term vision and collaboration with world-class innovators," Ed Catmull, president, Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, said. "We are strengthening our commitment to R&D throughout Disney by establishing these labs."
Joe Marks, vp R&D at Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, is leading the launch of the project and will oversee the labs.
Each lab represents a five-year commitment from Disney to fund a director and seven to eight principal investigators. Additional staff will include professors, academic interns, scientific consultants and collaborators.

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...981f28d9119d58

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[GhostHost2]

I thouht investing in new technology would be something that Disney would constantly have been doing for the last 50+ years since WDI (or WED as it was once called) was invented.

[tjcjr]

Originally Posted by GhostHost2

I thouht investing in new technology would be something that Disney would constantly have been doing for the last 50+ years since WDI (or WED as it was once called) was invented.

Developing new ideas doesn't always mean developing new technology. Sometimes imagineering simply means using (or improving) existing technology to bring their new or creative ideas to life.
Not to mention this is also a less expensive strategy.

[GhostHost2]

Maybe we will finally get new ground breaking technology in the theme parks. You know, like when AAs were originally introduced in the Tiki Room? Sure technology has changed since then, but we can all probably agree that nothing new in the US Disney parks for the last 10 years has been jaw dropping in terms of ground breaking technology.