Pete Woodbridge — AI consultant & creative technologist, Liverpool
I build things.
Now
Digital & Technology Cluster Lead, Liverpool City Region.
I'm Pete Woodbridge, an AI consultant and creative technologist based in Liverpool. Over twenty years I've worked with the BBC, Aardman, Epic Games and the NHS, among many others.
The day job is growing the Liverpool City Region's digital and technology sector with its businesses, universities, investors and talent. Alongside it I direct Dreamlab, an R&D lab and collective of 48+ experts; since 2024 we have helped over 100 businesses and freelancers, among them Dock10, Krygon Studios (at the MSG Sphere) and PlayXD (with Meta). Dream Machine, my book, newsletter and podcast on AI and the next creative economy, has been cited by The Economist and Fast Company.
I still build hands-on: AI tools, prototypes and data platforms like Soundings and Bearings, alongside the regional role.
Until recently I was R&D and Innovation Lead on MusicFutures, a £7.2m programme I helped the region win, and R&D Innovation Director at the MediaCity Innovation Hub, where we backed 35+ collaborative projects on a £3.2m accelerator.
Before that came studios, start-ups, universities and brand work: hands-on R&D, development and production. Software, AI and computer vision. Interactive and sensor-based media, projection mapping and live event technology. Games engines, VR/XR and mixed reality, motion and volumetric capture, virtual production and in-camera VFX. I built it in Python, Unreal Engine, Unity, JavaScript and the web, and now mostly with creative AI and agentic workflows.
One eye always on what's next, technically and strategically. Keep experimenting.
What I do
Four things, done properly.
Innovation leadership
Turning a region's talent and ideas into projects, products and companies. Programmes, clusters, labs and investment are the means; creating the conditions is the point.
AI & realtime
Making people faster, stranger and better at their thing, never redundant. AI-augmented workflows, agentic software development and data engineering, built into tools, platforms and systems people use every day.
Immersive & live experiences
Giving thousands of people something to feel in the same room at the same time. Projection mapping, tracking, sensors and games engines, for rooms, stages, stadiums and streets.
Virtual production
Putting film-scale production within reach of teams who could never go near a backlot. LED volumes, in-camera VFX, motion capture and volumetric pipelines, from a garage set-up to a 6,000 sq ft stage.
Things I am asked for
- AI consultancy & strategy
- AI adoption for businesses
- AI training & workshops
- Creative AI
- Generative AI
- AI agents & agentic workflows
- Software prototyping
- AI-augmented production workflows
- Digital twins
- Geospatial & realtime data
- Data visualisation
- Creative technology
- Virtual production
- In-camera VFX (ICVFX)
- Realtime production
- Immersive experiences
- Projection mapping
- Interactive installations
- Unreal Engine
- Games engines
- Motion capture
- Volumetric capture
- Mixed reality
- Augmented reality
- Experiential technology
- Innovation strategy
- Innovation leadership
- Cluster development
- R&D programmes
- Research and development
- Creative industries policy
Selected work
Ten roles, from a £3.2m accelerator to a 6,000 sq ft LED stage
Labs, stages, programmes and playable things, some of the names involved, and the freelance work running underneath all of it.
MusicFutures
2025 – 2026Helping the Liverpool City Region win a £7.2m music innovation programme, then building the machinery that hands it out.
Dreamlab
2024 – presentA lab of 48+ experts that has helped over 100 businesses and freelancers since 2024. It started in a garage.
MediaCity Innovation Hub
2023 – 2025Backing other people's innovation: 35+ funded R&D collaborations on a £3.2m innovation accelerator.
Crucial FX
2023Playable, projection-mapped and interactive experiences for brands like Monster, Kia and Costa.
Pathway Studios
2022Realtime content, in-camera VFX and innovation on a 6,000 sq ft LED volume in Manchester.
Draw & Code
2021 – 2022Mocap, volumetric capture, virtual production and hardware R&D with Liverpool's immersive specialists.
TMRW Foundation
2020 – 2021Product Director on a state-of-the-art web-based realtime games engine, and the 3D experience platform built on top of it. No goggles necessary.
XLab & MA Immersive Arts
2018 – 2020Launching the world's first MA Immersive Arts, and co-running the Experimental Technologies Lab.
SODA Manchester
2015 – 2018Shaping the curriculum for a £35 million school built for the digital storytellers of the future.
Centre for Disruptive Media
2010 – 2015Pioneering digital learning: the UK's first university iTunes site, an early YouTube Edu partnership, and a photography course that lived inside an app.
Freelance & consultancy
2003 – presentIndependent work for brands, studios, universities and companies, running underneath every role on this page.
with me
Start something
Commissions, consultancy, R&D collaborations, talks and teaching.
Why
The technology was never the point.
I've built immersive rooms, LED stages, games-engine tools, data platforms and AI agents. What kept me interested was never the kit. It was the people using it, and what they made once it stopped getting in the way.
Which is why the two halves of my work are really one. Hands-on, I build tools, platforms, workflows and systems for the people doing the work. On the other side, I build the programmes, funding and labs that hand the same tools to people who would otherwise never get near them.
Tell me what you're building.
Commissions, AI consultancy, R&D collaborations, talks, or just an idea you want to test on someone who has probably tried it once already.
Get in touch