The aim of this competition is to support business innovation within the creative industries, by providing a package of targeted and continuous support to help businesses to grow.

Your project must:

• be related to and for the benefit of the creative industries in the UK
• demonstrate a clearly innovative and ambitious idea
• be new to your business, with a demonstrable impact to your growth plan
• create a new revenue stream, for example new products, services or IP
• respond to the changing market conditions, such as new modes of audience consumption, or the adoption of new technologies within the sector
• be market ready within 12 months of receiving support
• demonstrate value for money

We encourage proposals that can demonstrate benefit to the wider creative Industries subsector or regional cluster for example:

• support the fashion and textile’s transition to a circular model
• improve transparency and accountability across the online advertising supply chain
• create new revenue streams and fan engagement activities in the music sector
• demonstrate how advanced digital technologies, including, Metaverse, blockchain and AI, can transform the publishing sector

This list is not exhaustive and innovations from across the creative industries are welcome.

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a portfolio of projects, from a variety of creative subsectors across the UK. We call this a portfolio approach.

Specific themes

The creative industries are defined by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Your project must focus on one or more of the following subsectors:

• advertising and Marketing
• architecture
• arts and culture
• broadcasting including sport
• crafts
• design
• fashion
• film
• games
• music
• publishing

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects:

• that are for businesses that have previously received funding from Innovate UK
• for business as usual (BAU) activities
• that lack evidence their proposed innovation is expected to lead to significant and positive economic or societal impact, or value for money that will be achieved
• that do not address how potentially negative outcomes would be managed, for example, on the environment
• that lack research and development or innovation, for example the creation of information only websites
• have costs and grant request in excess of £50,000
• that involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture
• that involve primary production in agriculture
• whose activities relate to the purchase of road freight transport
• not allowed under De minimis regulation restrictions
• not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance

We cannot fund projects that are:

• dependent on export performance, for example giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country.
• dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example if we give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

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