Valladolid City Council, through its Innovation and Economic Development Agency (IdeVa), has received major support from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Employment of the Regional Government of Castilla y León for the creation of the Digital Content Technology Laboratory. The project is the beneficiary of a grant of 1.5 million euros for its equipment.

Digital Content

The Digital Content Technology Laboratory, LAB TECH, is conceived as a space for innovation, a laboratory of trends where ideas and/or projects in the digital content sector and its ancillary sectors will be developed.

Its aim will be to promote entrepreneurship and generate an industrial ecosystem, in Castilla y León and in the city of Valladolid, around video games, virtual reality and audiovisual production, through verticalised entrepreneurship, video game production and financing, and specialised training close to the market.

Technological Laboratory Headquarters

Valladolid City Council is providing the project headquarters, the innovation hub space located at Calle Valle de Arán, 1 in Valladolid, next to the Parque Ribera de Castilla. It is a 3,000 m2 plot of land, which has been recently refurbished, and a 700 m2 open-plan warehouse with all the services.

Once equipped, it will be the headquarters of this multidisciplinary centre where different teams and professionals can collaborate on projects that integrate cutting-edge technology and creative skills. They will have advanced tools for different processes, from the creation of video game trailers to the production of content for virtual reality, to generate ambitious and quality products.

For the development of the Laboratory, the collaboration with Pentakill Studios (today DALOAR), a pioneering start-up company from Valladolid, an indie video game production and development studio, focused on audiovisual content, as well as the participation of Valladolid in the Madrid Game cluster, has been essential. DALOAR Studios is currently based at IdeVa, thanks to a collaboration agreement with the Valladolid City Council.

Technological Innovation

Likewise, the Laboratory will boost the innovation ecosystem and will also accommodate innovative and technology-based projects related to digital transformation, with a direct impact on the generation of quality employment and new business and industrial opportunities; the promotion of entrepreneurship; and local and regional economic development.

The project is open to public-private collaboration to work on lines such as the creation of open innovation processes, the attraction of companies to develop specific projects, the development of collaborative workspaces and support and consultancy services.

Equipment at the service of all

Valladolid City Council will tender and award, within a maximum period of one year, a supply and installation contract so that the Laboratory has state-of-the-art technological equipment at the service of developers. The centre will allow video game developers, content creators and production teams to explore new techniques and tools for generating virtual scenarios and integrating digital elements with real people.

• IT equipment, with high-performance, state-of-the-art computers

• Avant-garde space design

• Motion Capture Room for projects requiring realistic animation

• Virtual Reality equipment and motion simulators

• Photogrammetry; investment will be made in a professional 3D scanner

In addition, the space will integrate tools for a virtual production set with state-of-the-art virtual production technology, a high-quality sound recording studio and cinema cameras that integrate with virtual production systems. This project will be developed in connection with the technical office of the Valladolid Film Commission.

Once the physical space in Valle de Arán has been equipped, the next step of the project will be to close the circle, so that the centre will play the role of monitoring, advising and mentoring projects in development, supporting creators from the conception of the idea to the materialisation of the company. This ensures not only the success of the individual projects, but also the strengthening of the industrial, technological and creative ecosystem of Castilla y León.

Agreement with DALOAR Studios

In December 2023 Valladolid City Council signed a collaboration agreement with Pentakill Studios (now DALOAR) to nurture local talent, supporting its permanence in the city and its growth.

The focus has been on the development of its market product ‘The Occultist’, which will be launched in 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC platforms, and in whose development 200 professionals of the most diverse professional profiles have already participated. The city provided work spaces at the headquarters of the IdeVa Agency for its more than 30 employees, as well as facilitating the specialised training courses given by the aforementioned studio.

With this good experience, this new Digital Content Technology Laboratory will support indie video game studios in Castilla y León, collaborating as it is already doing with GAMEZ STUDIO based in Zamora, with a multidisciplinary team of local artists passionate about the world of design, 3D modelling, animation and programming and its product Dirok, self-defined as the first 100% Spanish eSport.

Both studios are the seed of the recently created and registered Video Game Industry Association of Castilla y León (ASIVI Castilla y León), which will also have the support of Valladolid City Council to promote its development.