Creative Catalyst
The Creative Catalyst is a £30 million programme of phased financial and non-financial activities to provide end to end innovation support for high potential businesses in the creative sector.
About the programme
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £10 million in innovation projects in this phase of the programme.
The aim of this programme is to scale up innovation within the creative industries by providing a package of targeted and continuous support to help businesses to grow.
The most recent funding round closed on 15 February 2023.
Creative Industries 2021
The UK is a global leader in the creative industries, which adds £116 billion to the UK economy each year. Watch highlights from Innovate UK’s £2.5 million Creative Industries Fund 2021 Success Stories.
Benefits
- Business growth support
- Creative mentor networks
- Investor accelerator funding
- Inward investment programmes
- Open innovation challenges
- Research facilities
Who can apply?
UK registered micro and small businesses in the creative industries can apply for funding up to £50,000 to grow their business.
Watch the Creative Catalyst Briefing event
The Catalyst funding grant opened on 5th December 2022
Watch recording
Testimonials from Creative Industries Pilot 2022
“The support provided the time to complete the 'missing link' in our tech. Specifically we were able to gain the trust of our client base by fulfilling this. Subsequently we have gained an agreement with 2 major video streaming platforms. The support was very important because we would not have been able to fulfil the technical requirements otherwise. The value of these agreements is around $270k over the next 6 months. This has ensured we retain all staff and add 2 new staff members.”
— Chara Ai
“The UKRI grant has enabled us to industrialise the process of Signimation® with a very elegant and productive solution and as a result has opened up partnerships with leading players in the TV animation industry."
— Game Lab UK
“The Innovate UK grant has enabled us to raise £250k in private funding, build a core team of 6, deliver a beta platform fully integrated with direct engagement and analytics tools, secure partnerships with 5 pilot artists, and develop strategic relationships with leading Indie Labels such as AWAL and PC Music.”
— iiNDYVERSE Ltd
“Developing a MVP for Yaan Store through the Innovate UK Creative Industry grant helped us to prove traction, to engage and understand deeply Crafters and Charities pain points, and define solutions that would help a hidden economy to be brought forth.”
— Yaan Store
“The grant has enabled All Axis to attract further grant funding from the European Regional Development fund as well as an offer of investment from a VC for £250k to help scale the business.”
— All Axis Studio
“As a direct result of the grant, Echofide has taken on 3 new members of staff, gained heavy interest from, institutional investors (as part of a £1.2m round) and have successfully applied for a SMART grant to further develop the platform which will create 5 more jobs alongside opening the UK up to new markets ahead of the global rollout.”
— Echofide
“As a result of the grant successfully won a grant from the intellectual property office and placed to release publicly and scale."
— Pibbon
“The grant enabled a unique and pioneering live immersive broadcast, introducing artists, engineers and producers as well as audience to Immersive Audio.”
— Real World Studios
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