The funding announced today by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy includes:
- at least £50 million to expand the Creative Industries Clusters (CIC), doubling total public investment
- £25 million for five new Convergent Screen Technologies And performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) satellite labs and two demonstrator and showcase spaces
This is part of an overall investment of £380 million from the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) through the Creative Industries Sector Plan.
It builds on UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) previous investments in the creative industries, including the first wave of the CIC and the £75.6 million CoSTAR programme.
Both these investments were delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
A hotbed of talent
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:
Our creative industries are powerful economic drivers in this country. By placing them at the heart of our Industrial Strategy this Sector Plan, backed by £380 million of investment, will boost regional growth, stimulate private investment, and create thousands more high-quality jobs.
This Sector Plan will help nearly double business investment to £31 billion by 2035, supporting our mission to raise living standards everywhere as part of our Plan for Change, ensuring the UK remains the world’s creative powerhouse.
A powerful engine for growth
AHRC Executive Chair and UKRI Creative Industries Champion, Professor Christopher Smith said:
The Creative Industries are a powerful engine for growth in the UK economy but they are also vital for scientific advance.
The deep synergies across the imagination and production of creative content, and the most cutting-edge science in universities and R&D intensive businesses across the UK, make CreaTech an important way for brilliant science and innovation, not only in specific creative applications but also through spillovers in AI, advanced communications technologies, and beyond.
That’s why we are thrilled that this Spending Review promises a coherent and concerted strategic investment from UKRI.
It enlarges and enhancing the UK’s national capability for the Creative Industries, CoSTAR, which is already proving itself a network for cutting edge science as well as a powerful mechanism for democratizing access to technology, and in the Creative Industries Clusters, which foster multidisciplinary science with a business-facing approach through devolved and efficient funding.
This investment builds on success to place Creative Industries at the heart of UKRI’s commitment to excellent science for a growing economy.
A major UK success story
The UK’s creative industries are a major UK success story, being worth over £124 billion per year and supporting thousands of jobs across the country.
They are an important part of the government’s modern industrial strategy.
AHRC has a long track record of investing in the research and innovation that underpins and supports these industries, helping to unlock economic growth and improve lives across the UK.
CoSTAR investment
With the funding for the CoSTAR programme announced today, AHRC will deliver:
- five new satellite labs to expand the reach of the CoSTAR network to all corners of the UK
- new demonstrators and research-industry exchange opportunities to increase access and tech adoption opportunities for businesses
- two state-of-the art convergent technology and artificial intelligence (AI) showcase hubs to attract investment
Overall, we expect to engage more than 25,000 businesses in the entirety of the programme and support at least 200 spin-outs, startups and scaleups, driving job creation and economic growth.
Expanding the Creative Industries Clusters
Meanwhile, the first nine CICs generated a total of £277 million of additional investment from £56 million of AHRC funding, supporting the creation and expansion of nearly 500 businesses.
The funding for new clusters announced today will continue this track record of success.
It will deliver an ambitious wave of clusters into new locations throughout the UK, bringing together universities and businesses to accelerate research and development.
Further details on the CoSTAR and CIC investments will be provided by AHRC in due course.