Digital Catapult is delivering the CreaTech Frontiers Growth Lab to support the growth of the creative technology businesses in the West Midlands. Creative companies who are successful in applying for this programme will receive £15,000 worth of bespoke growth and scaling support in accordance with their business needs. This programme offers support in progressing along traditional commercialisation pathways, as well as alternative routes to accessing finance, partnerships and audiences in the creative industries.
CreaTech Frontiers is a 5-year, £7.2 million project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) aiming to establish a thriving CreaTech ecosystem across the West Midlands by developing skills and talent, funding collaborative R&D, and supporting business innovation.
CreaTech Frontiers Growth Lab is designed to be tailored around the specific needs of each business participating, so that each participant can use their time in the accelerator to work through their own challenges and move toward their own goals.
This programme is designed for early-stage companies, who are at or above a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 3 and Commercial Readiness Level (CRL) of 3-6. This programme focuses on early-stage development where a business has successfully delivered a Proof of Concept (PoC) and who would now benefit from bespoke support to achieve their own specific growth goals.
Each participating company will receive growth support valued at £15,000. This will include access to a combination of the support activities listed below depending on their business needs.
We invite participants to apply who meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Your company product or solution must be at Technology Readiness Level 3 and higher
Eligible companies must have a proof of concept and be ready to validate the technical elements of this solution in a lab-controlled environment i.e. you don’t need a market ready product or service but must have demonstration of it. - Your company product or solution must be at Commercial Readiness Level between 3 and 6
Eligible companies must have validated the requirement of their solution with real world customers. - Your company must sit within the Creative Technology sector
The definition of the Creative Technology sector, as defined by Warwick University: “the interface of tech and creative industries — which captures both the transformation of the creative industries by technology, and the co-creation of new tech products and services for creative outputs, processes, products and services.” University of Warwick, 2021
These could include sub-sectors such as:
– Games and other interactive media (for example world building; game engine development)
– gamification and AI
– Enabling technologies for creative outputs (for example AI, ML, data, haptics, robotics, cloud computing, future networks)
– Immersive (for example XR, immersive audio)
– Live performance (for example music and AI; augmented performance; digital storytelling)
– Screen (for example virtual production; sustainability in media productions)
– Visual arts (for example digital museums and heritage; digital content creation)
– Other (something amazing we haven’t thought of) - Minimum Financial Assistance applicable
Applicants must be within the minimum financial assistance limit – they can only receive up to £315,000 worth of public organisation grant money within a 3 year period. - You must have a registered company, and your company must be registered in the West Midlands
(including Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire)
We recognise that the West Midlands is made up a diverse community of people from a wide range of backgrounds, and we are working to radically address the inequalities that currently exist in the tech landscape. We encourage those from less represented groups to apply, and to reach out to us as soon as possible with any additional access requirements.