Creative England Awarded £8m to Boost the Creative Industries

For the third time running we have successfully made the case to the Government for investment in creative talent and business across England.

We have been awarded £8m from Round 6 of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to invest in, support and develop businesses across the games, television, film and digital creative industries.

We’re currently planning what this will look like on a practical level so keep an eye on our Twitter feed and website for news in the coming months.

The Government’s Regional Growth Fund has invested nearly £3 billion to help businesses in England to grow; so far generating over 100,000 jobs.

Caroline Norbury, our Chief Executive said:

“The creative industry is growing three times faster than any other and our creative talent is world-leading so serious investment in the people driving this growth and their ideas is a no-brainer.

“Creative England has so far invested nearly £14.5m in the creative industries, contributing directly to the growth of the UK’s economy. And our teams are expert at finding the most exciting new talent this country has to offer; we’ve supported award-winning games developers, digital healthcare platforms and the latest social media software and apps.

“This £8m means we continue to invest in the best creative talent and businesses in cities all across England, helping to bring their ideas to life and their businesses to flourish.”

The additional funding will enable us to open up investment and support to creative businesses in the East of England and the South East regions – something that previous funds didn’t allow.

The funding comes after record statistics showed that the creative economy has had its most successful year to date with an increase of nearly 10% in GVA. Recent research by Nesta and Tech City has both highlighted the growth of employment and businesses in the creative economy across the whole of the UK.

Below are just a few success stories from those who have previously received funding from us through the Regional Growth Fund:

Carbon Digital – Manchester

Carbon Digital is an award-winning visual effects agency delivering world-class content for game trailers, television commercials, broadcast through animation, visual effects and exciting visual imagery. Clients include Sony, MindCandy, Starship and Frontier. Carbon Digital was named in the  CE50 and chosen as a Future Leader by a panel of judges from across the creative industry including Nicola Mendelsohn, Saul Klein and Rory Cellan Jones.

The Floow – Sheffield

A technology company that has created a telematics in-car app which is which aims to make vehicles safer and cheaper. Their smart phone app captures GPS information and driver performance data from vehicles and analyses it for third parties such as insurance companies and car manufacturers. The Floow applied to Creative England for a loan to help expand their team and ensure a sufficient working capital to pilot their product with insurance companies. As a result, the app is now being used by Direct Line, Greenflag and AIG, and is helping good drivers to lower their insurance premiums. The Floow was named in the CE50 and chosen as a Future Leader by a panel of judges from across the creative industry including Nicola Mendelsohn, Saul Klein and Rory Cellan Jones.

Komodo Design – Newcastle

Designs responsive websites and develop mobile apps. They have worked with a broad range of companies including ITV, the NHS, the Harley Gallery and nPower. Creative England supported Komodo with funds to assist them with specialised design activities, which were crucial to the company’s development.

Sponge UK – Plymouth

A family-run company, Sponge UK creates custom-built eLearning platforms for workplaces across the world, with tailored courses and campaigns that help businesses to transform their workforce. Their focus is on making learning more inspiring and more absorbing, and using digital techniques to connect people better with what they are learning. Sponge UK has worked with companies as diverse as Adidas, Tesco, John Lewis, Glaxo Smith Klein and Lexus.

Madfellows – Leamington Spa

Based in the games hub of Lemington (or Silicon) Spa, Madfellow is led by industry veterans, Paul Norris and Daniel Horbury who have been developing high-profile, cutting-edge video games for some of the world’s biggest publishers for over a decade. Their first project, SineWave, is an original music game for mobile platforms and was completed and released in July 2014. As a result of the Creative England funding Paul and Daniel were able to develop their own digital IP through to commercial release. MadFellows applied to Greenshoots in October 2013. Greenshoots is a collaboration between Microsoft and Creative England, offering indie game studios a cash injection of up to £25,000 to turn an original tablet or mobile game idea into a money-making application.