Your chance to see the latest innovations in action

Multiple showcases, countless possibilities

We have a range of industry-themed innovation showcases at Adastral Park, each one jam-packed with new technologies and leading-edge concepts. They’re a great way to show developing technology in action and to test fresh ideas with customers.

The technologies on show come from a variety of sources. Some have emerged from our own research. Some are the results of work by other technology companies, including those clustered at our Innovation Martlesham hub. And some are the discoveries of our innovation consultants, who scour the globe for nascent technologies that we can bring to our business and consumer customers.

Many of the technologies you’ll see in our showcases will end up as products in our own portfolio. 

Step into a showcase

Take a trip into tomorrow

You can visit any of our showcases at Adastral Park. That’s what they’re there for.

If you’re one of our Business customers, just get in touch with your BT account manager. If you don’t have a BT account manager, email us at the Adastral Park Customer Centre.

Take a look at the 360 degree videos below

– just click play, and then you can scroll around

  • See how banks can engage with customers in different ways to encourage them to visit a branch. Some of the security innovations don’t just apply to the financial sector – they’re relevant to all industries vulnerable to cyber-crime. Like our ground-breaking research into quantum computing and its impact on securely transmitting data, for example.

    You’ll also discover new thinking about contact centres. And it’s not just about improving the experience for people using the contact centres, we’re also developing technology to change the way people work in and manage them too.

  • The Defence Showcase is a platform designed to generate awareness and understanding in customers and prospective customers on the innovative technologies and solutions available to organisations in the defence sector. It gives the sales community a platform to create and drive pipeline opportunities to influence and sell to customers, reinforcing their brand position as the centre of excellence for innovative services. The showcase is themed around the Smart Bases concept used by the Defence Marketing team and looks at a number of technologies that are or could be relevant to the sector. It includes demonstrations of the Defence Business Internet solution – a high performance wi-fi solution specifically designed for the military, and this forms the network which other solutions could be provided from. These could range from digital signage to flexible working solutions and from Surveillance solutions to Drones.

  • The Digital Industries Showcase tackles the heart of the digital revolutions occurring in the manufacturing and engineering sectors. The showcase includes over 40 demonstrations. At the core  of this revolution is how the management and  agnostic aggregation of IoT data can be used to develop the automation.   This enables delivery of key processes and increases sustainability over secure comprehensive network connectivity solutions, including, multi cloud, private 5G, satellites and more.

    Digital Industries provides a journey of technological solutions from raw materials to transport, manufacturing and distribution. With demos from BT Applied Research and collaborative companies, it aims to show the possibilities for the future. From human to robot haptic interfaces to computer vision technologies, this space demonstrates how digital industries can develop safely, securely and also sustainably.

    This facility is also part of our Digital Industries Innovation Hub that builds on the key areas where BT feel we can add real value to that ecosystem combining connectivity, security and partnerships to help understand and find solutions to the journey to digitisation and industry 4.0 and beyond.

  • The Health Showcase brings together a number of innovations highlighting technologies aligned to key areas of Primary Care, Inpatient, Community and Social Care and Diagnostics, as well as aligning to the NHS long term plan and other Health friction points.

    Bringing together technologies such as camera vision, 3D mixed reality and even holograms, this showcase allows us to demonstrate different tech across almost the entire health vertical and helps to tell the story of how the healthcare sector could be transformed in the future.

    This facility is also part of our Health Innovation Hub which has formed a community of academia, solution providers and health industry experts, helping to deliver PoCs and trials of aforementioned tech.

  • The Home runs on a consumer broadband service and brings to life some of the things that will impact on bandwidth utilisation over the next few years.

    A lot of the things you can see in the Home are related to Smart Homes and bringing together multiple devices to enable people to have a better quality of life at home and making it easier for people to stay in their homes longer.

  • Step into a world of limitless possibilities with our cutting-edge Immersive Space. This groundbreaking showcase seamlessly blends interactive 360° video content with sensory-rich elements - from captivating lights and immersive sounds to even evocative scents. Compatible with Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Extended Reality (XR), this is where reality meets imagination.

    Designed to transform industries, our Immersive Spaces replicate real-world environments for a multitude of sectors including education, healthcare, retail, and more. From classrooms to hospital wards, bustling markets to serene beaches, the potential is boundless.

    Immerse yourself further as the rooms seamlessly connect to the EE mobile network. With the aid of cutting-edge cameras and high-definition projectors, watch as 360° content springs to life, adorning every inch of the space - from walls to floor.

  • Networks represents a typical UK high street with a mixture of Openreach green cabinets and DPs (distribution points or, as the man on the street might say, telegraph poles).

    In this Showcase, you’ll find out more about how the Openreach research team are leading innovation in faster connections over both fibre infrastructure and the old copper network, to understand technically how the new fibre infrastructure works and how we are looking to innovate how we rollout fibre.

  • The Retail Showcase is set out to represent a typical high street store and helps visitors to understand some of the challenges retailers are experiencing with the move to online shopping and some of the innovations that can help them bring customers back into their stores.

    Visitors can hear about technology to help retain their customers, incentivise them and to provide a more personal experience, similar to the online experience, including some of the cool new things that augmented reality enable instore.

  • The Security Showcase is the only Showcase that isn't aligned to a specific sector or market but showcases innovation that can be used across all sectors. In the Showcase customers can see innovative solutions from Applied Research, 3rd party suppliers and Innovation Martlesham companies that will help them to understand how they can secure their networks in different ways and challenges them to think about what security means to them and the innovation that can help them stay ahead of any threats. The Showcase also highlights the infrastructure that runs all the other Showcases and how companies can manage and model their infrastructure in different ways.

  • 5G and IoT are enabling customers to do new and exciting things and the Smart World Showcase highlights some of the features that enable this and brings to life how the network handles this. With over 50 billion IoT devices predicted to be connected, a visit will give an insight into to some of the ways value can be derived from all this data. 5G opens up new possibilities, not just faster speed and more capacity so what else does it enable? Hear how our research is leading developments in these key technology areas and see some of it in action.

Hothouses and Hackathons

What are Hothouses and Hackathons?

A Hothouse is an intense multi-day collaborative event that brings together customers with parties from various functions across the different lines of business. The aim is to produce clearly defined solutions to a stated business problem.

BT has used Hothouses since 2004; an agile methodology that utilises the right skills, quick iterations and end-customer engagement to facilitate progress and create business impact quickly and effectively.

Read on to find out more on some of the things to consider when thinking about a Hothouse and who to contact if you want to know more.

Why have a Hothouse?

Hothouses create a unique environment where people with knowledge and skills across a broad spectrum are dedicated solely to solving a given business objective. This environment creates a number of key benefits:

Collaboration

Bringing together the right people from across BT to accelerate a project - producing a skills matrix for the end-to-end solution.

Feedback

Testing ideas with customers and major stakeholders during the Hothouse, allowing for rapid iterations of ideas.

Speed

Agile methodology during the Hothouse means rapid working speeds. This is then maintained after the Hothouse through well-constructed outputs with clear downstreaming plans.

Realised results

The Hothouse process drastically reduces lapsed time on a project. Identifying and agreeing on requirements to move a project forwards after the Hothouse.

Momentum

Creating a common understanding post-Hothouse that maintains the momentum generated during the Hothouse and propelling the project forwards.

What makes a great Hothouse?

There is no single answer to what makes a great Hothouse, but a clearly defined business problem or opportunity is key. Alongside this it is about having all the key stakeholders and players in one space so that rapid decisions are made. Often, we see a 9-month project tackled in three days when we have the right people together. If you’re a Business customer of BT and are interested in running a Hothouse, please get in touch with your BT account manager. If you don’t have a BT account manager, please email the Adastral Park Customer Centre.