Creative Catalyst: Global Business Innovation Programme in India

A GBIP has three stages:

Prepare for the market

Preparing for the market includes the cohort being briefed by sector and market experts on, for example, cultural aspects of conducting business in that country. Delegates receive help to find business partners and arrange meetings and are advised on best practice including the management and protection of their intellectual property.

Visiting the market

Visiting the market provides opportunities to attend pre-arranged meetings and activities in order to better understand and maximise the opportunities that the visit presents.

Exploiting the opportunity

Exploiting the opportunity is arguably the most important aspect of the programme. To maximise the opportunity, participating companies are given bespoke one-to-one support from an Innovate UK EDGE innovation and growth specialist to help develop and implement an action plan.

The Global Business Innovation Programme operates on a competitive basis and businesses selected are required to participate in all three stages (some or all of which may be online).

To apply, you must:

• Be a UK-based innovation-led company with ambitions to grow and expand overseas
• Be working in the Creative Industries sector
• Be a company with fewer than 500 employees.
• Be able to attend and complete all activities.

Please note: Successful applicants will be expected to fully comply with any conditions of travel to India, as well as any local regulations on face covering and social distancing. As such, you might be required to provide proof of vaccination, and/or a negative COVID-19 test ahead of travelling to India. You must have valid travel insurance covering any COVID-19 aspects.

Creative Industries in India are growing fast, and estimates suggest that the creative economy accounts for $36.2 billion of the overall market size. Media and entertainment represent India’s largest cultural exports, and their strength in IT and CreaTech is an opportunity to explore collaborations and partnerships with UK companies.

The Indian games sector is set to be worth almost £7 billion by 2027, with the visual effects and animation sector worth almost £240 million in 2020 and growing rapidly. Driven by digital growth, advertising revenues in 2020 were over £11 billion (Statista 2021) and rising fast.

You will have the opportunity to attend the IndiaJoy Conference, one of the pioneering Media and Entertainment events in South Asia, amassing the largest stakeholder participation from across the globe. The flagship events at the IndiaJoy Conference are the India Game Developer Conference (IGDC), VFX Summit’s and OTTPulse and Desi Toons. These prestigious international events will unfold excellent opportunities through a series of networking, trade exhibitions, product launches, and B2B & B2C events.

• Video Games Development
• Publishing
• Animation
• Immersive Technologies
• Visual Effects (VFX)
• Digital Advertising
• Marketing and Branding

Innovate UK and Innovate UK EDGE will fund and organise flights, accommodation, and any conference fees for successful applicants. Innovate UK will also pay for any reasonable adjustments throughout the initiative. Only one
representative from each company will be funded.

On acceptance, a commitment fee of £500 will be obtained from each delegate, which will be refunded on
completion of the full activities and agreed action plan. Non-completion after formal acceptance may result in
forfeiting some or all the commitment fees.

Closing date for application: Wednesday 9th August 2023 at 5pm
Two-day pre-visit workshop: Tuesday 3rd & Wednesday 4th October 2023
Innovation visit: Saturday 28 October – Saturday 4 November 2023
Exploitation workshop: February 2024

For more information, assistance with your application or to discuss accessibility needs, please contact Innovate UK EDGE at event.enquiries1@innovateukedge.ukri.org