Tunbridge Wells Borough Council: The Amelia Scott, Collecting Tomorrow

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council are transforming The Amelia Scott cultural hub into a centre of digital innovation, with a keen focus on enhancing visitor engagement and artifact preservation. The "Collecting Tomorrow" project has placed artificial intelligence at the very heart of their strategy, particularly within their 3D object scanning procedures. Previously, the creation of accurate 3D scans was a rather laborious and often imprecise process. By partnering with PolyPlay, the council identified AI as a solution to streamline their workflows. The deployment of generative AI, specifically utilising Adobe Lightroom, has dramatically improved both the speed and the quality of the 3D scans. This advancement enables more efficient artifact preservation and the creation of dynamic digital exhibitions that blend physical objects with augmented reality and digital environments, offering visitors a richer, more interactive experience.

Since the implementation of the technology, a series of secondary benefits have transpired, which reflect the innovative nature of the council’s deployment of this technology. The museum has been able to create more interactive events, exhibitions are more widely accessible, and the council is exploring how it may be able to generate income by sharing their in house expertise with using the technology by develop a commercial offer for 3D scanning.

Before the deployment of AI, 3D scanning was already being used at The Amelia Scott to create digital twins of artifacts. However, this process was time-consuming and often resulted in errors, leading to scans with artifacts or inaccuracies of suboptimal quality. To address these issues, the council enlisted local organisation, PolyPlay, to enhance their processes and implemented Adobe Lightroom to achieve the desired results.

Using Adobe Lightroom's generative AI capabilities, The Amelia Scott collections teamhas significantly optimised its 3D scanning workflow. This AI plays a vital role in capturing and refining images, and it provides crucial geometric assistance for the photopolymer printing of tactile display objects. The technology excels at improving scan quality by automatically detecting and removing extraneous background elements, leading to faster, more accurate scan generation. It's important to note that the AI's function is to refine, not to manipulate, the original images, ensuring realistic representations. Furthermore, it can accurately recreate the original appearance of damaged artefacts, providing invaluable insights into their past.

The end product of the scans is a digital twin which is an accessible and virtual version of a physical object which can be viewed in any location. These digital twin objects can then be physicalised when required by 3D printing so that the objects can be handled in a size accurate form without risking damage to the real objects.

Introducing this cutting-edge technology has been a learning curve for the council, with the programme's innovative nature presenting initial challenges. A key hurdle was conveying the immediate significance and potential of the work, as many assumed it was a future prospect rather than a present reality. Crucially, a foundational element to the project's success has been the council's proactive embrace of innovation and their capacity to take balanced and considered risks. 

To bridge this gap, The Amelia Scott team actively engaged with local and international audiences. Presentations at Kent Connects fostered stronger ties with local groups and the county council, while their successful application to speak at the Museum Next Conference, reaching 50,000 attendees alongside global institutions like MoMA and the Smithsonian, showcased their expertise on a global stage. Driven by a desire to share their knowledge, the team is committed to empowering museums, cultural entities, and galleries at regional, national, and international levels. By freely disseminating their insights and skills, they aim to elevate the cultural sector and acknowledge the opportunity they were given to innovate and experiment with this groundbreaking technology.

The project has yielded significant outcomes and impacts. Primarily, AI-driven automation of masking and editing has accelerated digital scan and image processing by 50 per cent, while simultaneously enhancing scan quality of artefacts. To quantify the project's return on investment, the department is using a tool developed by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) for formal evaluation. Beyond these efficiency gains, the project has fostered community empowerment through training and upskilling local individuals—including students, PhD researchers, and volunteers—in digital and physical twin creation using AI. This initiative has directly contributed to career advancement, with volunteers securing paid positions at prestigious institutions like the British Museum, Imperial War Museum, and National Trust. 

The council's innovative approach has thus generated broader community benefits extending beyond the project's initial scope. Furthermore, The Amelia Scott has leveraged the technology to create highly engaging educational experiences. The Tunbridge Wells Learning Team, for example, transformed scans of a Mesolithic cave into an immersive virtual reality environment, allowing children to interact with digital and physical twins of local artefacts like flint axes. This innovative approach brings complex historical concepts to life. The superior quality of digital scans and physical twins has also unlocked powerful marketing opportunities. The viral "Subbuteo World Cup" campaign, featuring scanned Subbuteo figures in dynamic digital advertisements, significantly elevated the museum and town's profile. The campaign's imaginative visuals, including giant Subbuteo figures transported by a Chinook helicopter, captured widespread attention. 

Building on these successes, The Amelia Scott has cultivated a niche skillset within its team and refined its digital scanning process. This expertise has paved the way for a commercial offering, providing digital scanning services to external organisations. With substantial interest already expressed, this initiative holds the potential for a significant return on investment for the council.

Recognising the time-intensive and costly nature of traditional conservation, digital archiving and operating within the constraints of a discretionary civil museum service, The Amelia Scott's team is proactively pursuing innovative strategies to maintain service standards comparable to better-funded institutions. 

Furthermore, they are actively investigating the potential for these innovations to generate positive financial returns for the council. Following successful profile-raising events, the team is leveraging its expertise to collaborate with external organisations, exploring avenues for income generation through consultancy and specialised services.

The project yielded invaluable lessons, both technical and strategic. On a practical level, the team discovered that perfecting the 3D scanning and AI integration process required significant perseverance, as the technical complexities proved challenging. Equally important was the realisation that a rigid service plan would have hindered progress. The council found immense value in adopting a flexible approach, one that allowed for organic development and adaptation as improvements and new possibilities emerged. This experience underscored the importance of fostering an environment where innovation can thrive, guided by a core set of values and principles, rather than being constrained by inflexible pre-determined plans.