DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 4: large projects
Competition opens: Monday 31 March 2025
Competition closes: Thursday 29 May 2025 11:00am
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with DCMS to invest up to £8 million in innovation projects. This programme has a regional focus.
The aim of this competition is to provide a package of targeted support to high growth creative businesses to scale, build investor networks and reach their potential. This funding is designed to help creative businesses explore new innovation projects as a stimulus for growth.
The 12 DCMS Create Growth Programme appointed regions are:
- Greater Manchester
- Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire
- North East of England
- West of England and Cornwall
- South East
- Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Greater Lincolnshire
- Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
- Hull & East Yorkshire
- West Midlands
- West Yorkshire
- Devon
- Hertfordshire
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
Creative industry businesses refer to those with a high intensity of creative occupations. You can refer to the DCMS Economic Estimates for a list of the sub-sectors and their associated SIC codes, that DCMS classifies under the creative industries.
Your proposal must:
- be from the creative industries
- be from a micro, small or medium size enterprise registered or operational in an appointed 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
- demonstrate how your business has either engaged with, or intends to engage with the ongoing regional support provided by the programme
The programme support comprises of three complementary strands:
- business support targeted at the creative industries
- finance
- investor capacity building activities