Funding Competition: DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 3 – UK

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is to invest approximately £3 million in innovation projects in the creative sector.

This funding is from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Create Growth Programme and has a regional focus across 12 regions.

The six original regions identified for the programme by DCMS are:

• Greater Manchester
• Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire
• North East of England
• West of England and Cornwall
• South East Coast
• Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Greater Lincolnshire

DCMS has expanded the regions since the launch of the programme and now includes:

• Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
• Hull & East Yorkshire
• West Midlands
• West Yorkshire
• Devon
• Hertfordshire

Your proposal must:

• be from the creative industries
• be by a micro, small or medium enterprise registered or operational in a DCMS Create Growth Programme region
• focus on a clear growth opportunity and the proposed innovation to address it
• demonstrate the impact funding and support can have on the growth plan of your business
• engage with the regional support if your application is successful

Your project must:

• offer an innovative and ambitious idea which demonstrates a clear growth opportunity
• be new to your business
• have a demonstrable impact to your growth plan, for example, start the process of creating a new revenue stream, such as new products, services or intellectual property (IP)
• demonstrate a route to commercialisation within 12 months of receiving support with a clear plan for attracting additional private finance
• benefit the wider creative cluster or region in England you are based in
• be able to start rapidly
• demonstrate value for money

Specific Themes

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

• advertising and marketing
• architecture
• crafts
• design and designer fashion
• film
• television
• video
• radio
• photography
• IT, gaming, software and computer services
• publishing
• museums, galleries and libraries
• music, performing and visual art

Project Size

• Your project’s grant funding request must be between £10,000 and £30,000.

Projects they will not fund

They are not funding projects:

• that support business as usual (BAU) activities
• that are currently in the receipt of public funding for business growth
• without evidence the proposed innovation will lead to business growth
• that do not address how potentially negative outcomes will be considered, for example, on the environment
• without innovation, for example, the creation of information-only websites
• that sit outside of the creative industries
• that sit outside of the 12 identified regions

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • last between three and five months
    • start by 1 Nov 2024
    • end by 31 March 2025
    • carry out all its project work in the UK
    • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  • Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.
• Lead organisation
  • To lead a project your organisation must:
    • be a UK registered micro, small or medium size enterprise (SME)
    • be registered or operational in one of the twelve Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) Create Growth Programme appointed regions
    • not currently be in receipt of public funding for business growth
    • have a demonstrable ambition for growth
    • be from the creative industries and focused on one or more of the creative industries sub-sectors
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.
  • You must also provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you.
  • They expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. They will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
• Number of applications
  • You can only apply for this competition once.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.