Global Business Innovation Programme - Creative Catalyst & Artificial Intelligence at South by Southwest (SXSW), Texas, USA

The Global Business Innovation Programme is structured around three main stages and each business will have a designated Innovate UK Business Growth innovation & growth specialist to support them for at least the duration of the offering, including developing a work plan to capitalise on the opportunities identified. The three main stages of the Global Business Innovation Programme are

• Get ready: A two-day workshop to build knowledge and understanding of the market and potential opportunities, including how to do business, cultural aspects, how to protect your IP, and training on how to better articulate your value proposition.
• Visit the market: Explore the opportunities first-hand through meetings with key companies, research organisations, and potential collaborators and partners, through pre-arranged meetings and organised matchmaking.
• Exploit the opportunity: An exploitation workshop and one-to-one support from an Innovate UK Business Growth innovation & growth specialist to help you follow up and maximise the opportunities identified through the programme.

To apply for this programme, you must:

• Be a business focused on developing innovation solutions in the Creative Industries or AI sector.
• Be a UK based innovation-led company with ambitions to grow and internationalise
• Be a company with fewer than 250 employees
• Be CEO, Founder or senior decision maker and able to attend and complete all activities

Creative Catalyst & AI

The creative industries and AI are key sectors at the SXSW conference and offers exciting and significant growth opportunities for ambitious UK businesses. To capitalise on the opportunity, working with the Creative Catalyst and Bridge AI programmes, we have organised a GBIP to support up to 30 businesses in the creative industries and AI.

Creative Catalyst

We are looking for up to 15 businesses that focus on creative projects from the following areas:

• Metaverse
• Digital Advertising
• Music tech
• Gaming
• Visual Effects (VFX)
• Immersive Technologies
• Film and TV

Artificial Intelligence

We are looking for up to 15 businesses that focus on developing AI solutions from the following areas:

• Broadcasting
• Arts and Culture
• Design
• Fashion & Beauty
• Film and TV
• Gaming
• Music
• Extended Reality (XR) / Virtual Reality (VR)

Applications are open to all UK businesses
focusing on the above sub-sectors.

The Creative Catalyst element of the SXSW GBIP is open to all UK creative companies from the subsectors supported by the Creative Catalyst Programme. Preference will be given to the Creative Catalyst cohort awardees (Creative Catalyst, Creative Industries Fund, Audience of the Future, SMART/Fast Start and Create Growth Programme). The intention is to have an equal split of (i) Creative Catalyst cohort awardees (ii) UK creative companies that have not yet received an award. We reserve the option to adopt a portfolio approach to ensure a wide range of businesses represented across the sub-sectors and regions. This GBIP is one of three Creative Catalyst opportunities: USA Austin – SXSW, Finland Helsinki – Slush and Singapore – Asia TV Forum.

• Have the support of an Innovate UK innovation and growth specialist
• Explore opportunities and better understand the market
• Find potential innovation partners and develop your network
• Improve your company value proposition

To find out more about the GBIP SXSW opportunities and understand how they can benefit your business, you can attend the online applicant briefing which will take place on Wednesday 31st July at 11am. Register to attend here.

Applications close: Monday 9th September at 5pm

Get ready Workshop : Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th January 2025

Visit the market : Friday 7th – Friday 14th March 2025

Exploit the opportunity workshop  (in-person): Wednesday 11th June 2025