Launchpad: immersive & creative, Coventry & Warwickshire Round 2 CR&D
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £4.35m for innovation activities in the immersive and creative industries cluster centred on Coventry and Warwickshire in the West Midlands.
Opportunity Details
When
Registration Opens
04/11/2024
Registration Closes
11/12/2024
Award
Your project must have a grant funding request of between £150,000 and £1 million: this can cover up to 70% of costs depending on business size and project type.
Organisation
Innovate UK
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council, and the West Midlands Combined Authority to to invest up to £4.35 million in innovation projects. This funding is from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme which supports the UK government’s goals for local economic growth. This Launchpad is also supporting CWX as the local cluster management organisation.
This will support projects across two Launchpad competition strands that target the immersive and creative industries innovation cluster centred on Coventry and Warwickshire. The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must use the funding to grow your innovation activities in the immersive and creative industries cluster centred on Coventry and Warwickshire in the West Midlands, both during and after the project.
The projects will contribute to the ambitions of the cluster to develop, fuse and transfer existing research excellence, industrial innovation capability and sectoral strengths. Building market-orientated opportunities in immersive and creative industries.
This competition is split into two strands:
- Launchpad: immersive and creative, Coventry and Warwickshire, Collaborative Research and Development (CR&D), Round 2 (this strand – funding of £150k-£1m per project, must be collaborative)
- Launchpad: immersive and creative, Coventry and Warwickshire, Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA), Round 2 (£25k-£100k per project, single applicants only)
It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct strand for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope. It is possible to apply to both strands, but the projects must be separate and distinct.
If you would like advice about which strand is more appropriate for your project, or help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Creative Industries or Immersive Tech teams.
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To lead a project your business must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- be or involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
- collaborate with other UK registered organisations
- be growing your innovation activities in the immersive and creative industries cluster centred on Coventry and Warwickshire
- have a demonstrable ambition for business growth
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
- business of any size
- academic institution
- charity
- not for profit
- public sector organisation
- research and technology organisation (RTO)
A business can lead on only one CR&D strand application and can be included as a collaborator in any number of applications. If you are not leading any application, you can collaborate in any number of applications.
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Your project must:
- have a grant funding request of between £150,000 and £1 million
- last between 6 and 18 months
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- not start before 1 May 2025
- end by 31 December 2026
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The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must be growing your innovation activities in the immersive and creative industries cluster centred on Coventry and Warwickshire in the West Midlands.
Your project must build market-orientated opportunities in immersive and creative industries.
Your project must contribute to growing your innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after your project. This could be demonstrated by:
- your local innovation activities
- the value that your innovation activities create in the cluster
- your engagement with other innovation active organisations in the cluster, such as with CWX, this Launchpad’s cluster management organisation
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Your project can focus on developing and applying technologies including one or more of the following:
- digital media
- mixed media
- augmented reality
- virtual reality
- virtual production
- game engine and 3D environments
- simulations and data visualisations
- performance and motion capture
- gesture and facial recognition
Your project can be aimed at application in one or more of the following market sectors and industries:
- creative industries
- video game development
- screen sector
- healthcare
- education
- future mobility
- manufacturing
- retail
- tourism, leisure and sport
These lists are not exhaustive. Where you can show your proposal fits within the scope of this competition you can focus on other technologies, sectors and industries.
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Innovate UK have produced a pre-recorded briefing covering Investor Partnerships, CR&D and MFA for all the competitions running in late 2025: click here to watch the recording. They have also supplied briefing slides which can be downloaded here.
In addition, Innovate UK Business Connect will host an online briefing event on Thursday 14 November, 1pm-2.15pm: click here to register for a place. This will start with a plenary overview of the Launchpad programme, alongside information on how to apply to the competitions. Breakout rooms will then follow for each of the seven Launchpads and their respective competitions where delegates will be briefed on the key areas of interest for each cluster.
If you would like advice about which strand is more appropriate for your project, or help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Creative Industries or Immersive Tech teams.