Key Features
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million for innovation projects in creative technology.
Programme: Innovate UK
Award: Share of up to £2 million
Opens: 9th Oct 2023
Closes: 23rd Nov 2023
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is delivering this competition on behalf of MyWorld, in partnership with Digital Catapult, to invest up to £2 million in innovation projects. This is funded by the UKRI Strength in Places Fund and builds on the West of England’s strengths in creative media production, technology and research.
MyWorld is a 5 year programme that presents opportunities to create, deliver and understand experiences in creative technology, driving forward the future of media in the UK and beyond.
The aim of this competition is to support business-focused research and innovation in the creative industries in the West of England. MyWorld supports the generation of innovative ideas and solutions for the creative industries. It addresses the need to develop diverse technologies associated with:
This includes the requirement to deliver adaptive audience experiences efficiently, at scale and optimised for quality across a multitude of devices.
Your project must:
Portfolio approach
Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects, we call this a portfolio approach.
The criteria for selection of the portfolio are:
Your project must focus on screen based and immersive technologies within the creative sector industries including one or more of the following:
Creating experiences
How acquisition, production and delivery relate to narrative, aesthetic and content types or formats in modulating experience, leading to new intelligent acquisition and production methods that facilitate immersion.
For example:
Delivering experiences
Platforms, network technology and representations that support new forms of content delivery and interactivity and delivery processes that ensure the preservation of immersive properties during transmission.
For example:
Measuring experiences
Perceptually robust means of assessing media quality and immersion that inform creative practice and editorial decision making and that differentiate the impacts of technology and narrative.
For example:
Innovate UK define screen based and immersive experiences as multisensory narrative or interactive experiences mediated through technologies including, but not limited to:
The industry sectors this may address include:
Neither list is intended to be exhaustive. These are examples of potential application areas. We will consider all proposals that address the challenge areas and meet the criteria for eligibility.
Your project must:
Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.
You must only include eligible project costs in your application.
Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation:
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.
The lead organisation can be based outside of the West of England area. Justification must be made in your application as to why the project could not be led by an organisation from the West of England area. You must explain how the project outputs will be exploited for the economic benefit of the West of England region.
Project team
You must collaborate with at least one of the Universities based in the West of England:
You can also collaborate with additional organisations. These organisations must be one of the following UK registered:
Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs in the application.
To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.
Non-funded partners
Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
If you use subcontractors from outside of the West of England area you must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the area. You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential regional contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unsuitable for your project. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use a subcontractor from outside the stated area.
You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.
You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
A business, charity or not for profit can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.
If a business, charity or not for profit is not leading any application it can collaborate in any number of applications.
An academic institution or research and technology organisation (RTO) can collaborate on any number of applications.
Innovate UK are not funding projects that:
Innovate UK cannot fund projects that are:
Up to £2 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.
If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.
For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
Research participation
The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 30% you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.
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