In 2015, Felix Beck began to work on several research projects at NYU Abu Dhabi. With his main objective to explore technology semantics,
he looked into finding a better integration of technology into society to improve existing and develop new systems, processes, and services.
His secondary interest was to explore the potential of integrating compelling narratives with advanced technology to produce captivating spatial performances, creating  distinctive sense for places. In addition, he worked on the creation of artefacts and the design of prototypes exploring new user experiences, intuitive interfaces, and embodied human-computer interaction.

A year later in 2016, he started summarising his project works under the name of the NTSI Lab – the Lab for Narrative Technologies and Spatial Installations. Establishing a more formal recognition for his area of expertise and getting more prominent on NYUAD campus over time, and with more and more student researchers being interested to conduct research within the lab, he initiated three research groups with a focus on
1. Experimental Sustainable Designs, 2. Future Technologies, and 3. Social Compositions & Communal Infrastructures. Within the three groups the lab's research-through-design approach targeted to follow iterative steps of research, analysis, proposal, and prototype. The Experimental Sustainable Design group finally merged into the Plastic Recycling Research Lab  [→] that Felix Beck started to form in late 2017. In 2018, Beck integrated the NTSI Lab into the Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES) [→] . 

Results of NTSI Lab’s researchers were published at national and international technology meetings, design festivals, and conferences in the fields of innovation, design, and media-art. The lab's interdisciplinary approach allowed the researchers to also collaborate on various projects such as a competition entry for the UAE National Pavilion for Architecture Biennale (Venice 2018), the involvement in concept development for Pavilion of Humanity (Dubai EXPO 2020), project involvement and collaboration with Louvre Abu Dhabi for Interactive Installations (with Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA), 2017–2018), or for example the consultancy for Traditional Weaponry Museum in Jazirat Al Hamra (Ministry of Infrastructure Development, 2016–2020), beside others. 

Felix led the NTSI Lab as Principal Investigator from 2016 until 2020. With his move to Münster University of Applied Sciences in Summer 2020, he decided to close the lab, but re-opened it a few months later as an independent and open network for researchers and collaborators to work within several interdisciplinary teams with the mission and focus to design better futures: sustainable, technological and social. Since 2022 Prof. Zlatan Filipovic (American University of Sharjah, College of Architecture and Design) is the acting director of the NTSI Lab.

Find more information here: www.ntsi.info