London is becoming the global testbed for a new kind of tech, and it’s all about the experience economy, writes Paul Armstrong

London is no longer trying to out-hardware the world. It’s testing something else: what happens when you swap products for presence.

From 28 April to 2 May, the first London Experience Week will throw the city wide open. Think “fashion week for experiences”, only with spatial audio, adaptive light, AR, AI-generated environments and haptics. Microsoft, Netflix and Pepsi are on the bill. So are Marshmallow Laser Feast, Punch Drunk, Bompas & Parr and a rotating cast of global provocateurs including designers from Mexico, Chile, Denmark, India, Egypt. It’s not a conference. It’s not a launchpad. It’s a signal.

British institutions are already leaning into this shift. ITV is using immersive formats to evolve stale linear storytelling. Aston Martin is experimenting with (insert finger wiggles here) narrative environments. The Lost Estate has turned a 1950s Havana bar into an interactive theatre-dining hybrid. These aren’t stunts, more early drafts of what it looks like when tech stops shouting and starts staging.

London’s lead on immersive tech

James Wallman, CEO of the World Experience Organisation, is bullish on London’s impact: “London has always led the way, and new emerging technologies are colliding with new opportunities, and realities, in the capital. The medium isn’t the headset anymore. It’s the moment. Experience design is........

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