Coventry & Warwickshire offer GBP £4.35m for innovation
Coventry and Warwickshire have teamed up with Innovate UK to offer new funding aimed at accelerating innovation and business growth within the local Immersive & Creative technology sector.
Innovative businesses in the region are invited to apply for a share of GBP £4.35 million to advance their projects. This initiative follows an earlier investment of more than GBP £3 million through Innovate UK's Launchpad programme, which has already provided crucial support to local businesses for innovation, growth, and scaling-up.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Launchpad is a collaboration between Innovate UK, Warwickshire County Council, Coventry City Council, and the West Midlands Combined Authority. This partnership aims to enhance investment in research and innovation, contributing to business growth and the economic expansion of the area.
Eligible projects must focus on immersive and creative industries, which may involve the development and application of technologies such as digital and mixed media, augmented and virtual reality, game engine and virtual production, and motion capture.
As part of this initiative, businesses can apply for MFA grant funding ranging from GBP £25k to GBP £100k.
Additionally, larger-scale collaborative research and development projects can seek funding of between GBP £150k and GBP £1 million as part of a consortium. These funds target innovation projects across various sectors, including creative, healthcare, education, future mobility, manufacturing, retail and tourism.
The Launchpad programme is an Innovate UK-funded initiative under UK Research and Innovation. It aims to build on high-potential innovation clusters across the UK, contributing to job creation, growth, and higher productivity.
Portfolio Holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council, Councillor Martin Watson, remarked, "Coventry and Warwickshire is renowned for our innovation which drives forward our economy and creates jobs. This latest Launchpad competition demonstrates our strength at fostering innovation to enable talented entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and take on more highly-skilled staff to meet our county's sustainable and inclusive ambitions."
He further commented on the impact of previous funding rounds, "Previous rounds of funding have led to Coventry and Warwickshire businesses developing mixed reality manufacturing environments, a 3D data visualisation toolset, and immersive gaming with educational and ethical benefits.
This Launchpad funding will give businesses involved in technology developments the opportunity to make the most of their talents and build on our sub-region's reputation for attracting inward investors as well as our commitment to long-term economic stability."
Adding to this, Cllr Jim O'Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change at Coventry City Council, stated, "We all know that innovation and the effective adoption of new technologies will be fundamental to growing our economy and creating the jobs of the future.
It is something Coventry and Warwickshire has repeatedly excelled at, and this news will be a great boost to businesses."
Referring to the successes from the initial funding rounds, O'Boyle added, "We have seen some exciting projects awarded funding through the first two rounds of the scheme from a wide range of businesses doing great things with creative technologies."
He urged local businesses to seize the opportunity, "Now, with this new round it will provide local businesses - either in Creative Industries or working with creative or immersive technologies - with an excellent opportunity to access funds for developing new products or services that will accelerate their growth. We need to encourage local businesses to look at this opportunity and the information on the government website and I really hope that lots consider applying."
