Goodwood FutureLab
at Festival of Speed

Client

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Project Type

Innovative Conferencing.
Immersive Technology.
Interactive Exhibitions

Location

West Sussex, England, UK

Creating a showcase for the future of mobility

How do you turn the UK’s foremost motoring garden party into a global technology showcase?

What Goodwood FOS asked for

Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS) is the world’s greatest celebration of motorsport and car culture. Held every summer at the Goodwood Estate in the UK, it attracts over 200,000 people. In 2017 the FOS organisers asked us how we could collaborate to turbo-charge its position as the leading tech innovation expo for the automotive industry.

FutureLab was born.

Where our thinking led us

Our original vision was to create an event showcasing the best and brightest transport technology - one that nobody working in the industry could afford to miss.

In short, our ambition grew every year, to create an expo bigger than just transport and technology, which has resulted in the FOS becoming a futuristic showcase of the future of mobility and a centrepiece of the festival, attracting technology and innovation companies from across the globe.

What we did

We created a single, cohesive exhibition space embodying FutureLab’s brand that also enables individual exhibitors to demonstrate their products, personalities and ambitions.

24 individual exhibition areas were created. We made the pavilion design and layout as intriguing as possible to outsiders. Inside, we created an incredible experience that included immersive activations and enticing exhibitor displays that gave festival attendees a chance to get their hands on and try out the latest technology.

Exhibitors have ranged from large multinational tech firms such as Samsung, Airbus, Siemens and Facebook; to exciting start-up companies from the world of transport, manufacturing and food processing; to the latest research from universities and organisations like Oxford, MIT and NASA.

As well as designing and running the overall experience, we also work with each exhibitor to create bespoke installations designed to showcase their technologies in ways that are engaging and fun to audiences.

FutureLab now attracts nearly half of all festival attendees each year. Over 140 companies have exhibited across the space since its inception. How does it feel? Picture a full-scale model of a lunar lander, a fully self-driving IndyCar racing up the Hill Climb at top speed, vertical takeoff electric passenger jets… and you start to get the idea.

Festival of Speed’s initial aim – to attract a whole new sector of exhibiting companies to the festival – has been achieved. And now, each year, new and existing organizations continue lining up to get involved.

%

increase of people attending year-over-year

%

increase in exhibitors

people attended for 2023 alone

Testimonials

"We at Goodwood have worked with Catapult Ltd every year since 2015.

Catapult collaborate with us to produce two of our high profile events at the Festival – FutureLab (an interactive exhibition showcasing the future of transport) and Nucleus (our Thought Leadership event, engaging with our top tier automotive and tech C-suite guests)."

Stuart Parker, Head of Technology Sales

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