Technology Strategy Board pledges £30m to creative sector

The Technology Strategy Board has pledged more than £30 million to creative businesses across the UK.

The fund will be invested over the next four years in areas the organisation considers have the greatest potential for innovation and where it could make the greatest difference.

One of the key areas of the investment plan includes addressing convergence in digital technologies, and covers games, animation, online video, film and television.

The initial £15m from the fund will be distributed through a competition to support business working on cross-platform production, which officially opened yesterday.

The contest will fund feasibility studies into new technologies and also collaborative research & development projects.

Collaborative R&D projects will can receive up to 50 per cent public funding, with a further ten per cent for SMEs. These projects are expected to last between one-to-two years and to cost in the region of £300,000 to £2 million, but the Strategy Board said it would consider larger projects.

A total of £1 million in funding will be made available for feasibility studies by single businesses, with projects expected to be sized at around £100k to £120k.

The deadline for registration to the competition is November 6th, and completed applications must be submitted by November 13th.

The Technology Strategy Board is set to work with UK organisations such as Creative Skillset, Creative England, Nesta, the Arts Council and the British Film Institute to implement the funds.

You can find more details on the official website.

A Digital Innovation Contest by IC Tomorrow was recently launched for games, which will award five successful applicants £25,000 each to develop their games.

Challenges for the competition include Second-screen Use in a Game, New Markets and Perceptual Computing, Wider Games Distribution on Mobile Web, Open Street Map Data and Games and Cinema.