SHAPING THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
Creative Informatics is an ambitious research and development programme based in Edinburgh, which aims to bring the city’s world-class creative industries and tech sector together, providing funding and development opportunities that enable creative individuals and organisations to explore how data can be used to drive ground-breaking new products, businesses and experiences.
Creative Informatics is nurturing local talent through five key funding programmes and regular events that support Edinburgh’s creative industries to do inspiring things with data. Find out more about all of our opportunities below.
NEWS
Imogen Heap joins our Innovation Showcase
We’re so pleased to announce that award-winning recording artist and technology innovator, Imogen Heap will join our Innovation Showcase in conversation with broadcaster, author and activist Gemma Cairney.
READ MOREInnovation Showcase Programme Update
Join us to celebrate the visionary people and groundbreaking projects that have been part of, and inspired, the Creative Informatics programme over the past five years.
READ MOREOUR PROGRAMMES
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
Challenge Projects offer an opportunity for creative organisations to bring challenges to the table that require innovative solutions. Projects will last 3-12 months and challenges will be addressed through the development of new products and/or services. Creative and cultural organisations are invited to apply for Challenge Projects that respond to one of the following innovation challenges:
- Developing access to and engagement with new audiences and markets.
- Developing new modalities of experience.
- Unlocking the value of archives and data sets.
- Exploring new business models for the creative industries.
Open calls for challenge project applications happen twice a year. Once submitted, applications will be reviewed by a panel, who will select up to five challenges to take forward.
Applications for our Round 7 Challenge Projects are now closed. Our final round of Challenge Respondents will be announced in July 2022.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
The Resident Entrepreneurs programme provides funding of up to £12k to individuals or teams of creative practitioners who want to develop new products or services using data or data-driven technologies.
Due to social distancing measures, the majority of our Resident Entrepreneur projects to date have been completed remotely. With restrictions relaxing, we are delighted to once again be able to invite notes of interest from organisations keen to host a Resident Entrepreneur during their project. Read our guidelines to find out more.
Applications for Round 8 Resident Entrepreneurs are open now and close on Wednesday 14th September at 5pm.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
Creative Bridge is an accelerator programme, delivered by CodeBase, designed for creatives from all backgrounds to learn best practice in building a digital product business. By learning start up theory and hearing creative entrepreneurs’ stories of how they made something amazing happen, or how they failed, participants will gain valuable insights into both what defines success for them and how to get there.
The course will consist of learning alongside a cohort of contemporaries selected from all creative disciplines, and participants will work in groups on an overarching project over 10 weeks (1/2 a day per week).
Cohort 9 of Creative Bridge (September to November 2022) will be the final Creative Informatics cohort of Creative Bridge.
If you were unable to apply but are interested in what the course offers, get in touch with CodeBase at info@thisiscodebase.com to find out more about their education programmes.
FIND OUT MORE
CI Labs and Studios run throughout the year and are open to anyone working in Edinburgh’s creative and cultural community. Events are free to attend and offer an excellent introduction to the wider Creative Informatics programme.
CI Studios are regular, informal events, that give participants an opportunity to experiment with new technologies, share experiences and collaborate with other creatives to develop ideas for new products and services.
CI Labs feature live performances and talks from artists and academics who are working with data and data-driven technologies, as well as providing opportunities to network and hear about upcoming opportunities.
Information and registration details for our latest events can be found on our events page.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
Connected Innovators supports emerging leaders from within the creative industries who want to take time out to conduct research and development that will enable them to advance their own careers and/or business.
If you are looking to develop a specific area of your creative practice or business using data or data-driven technology, you can apply for funding of up to £10,000 to support your work.
Connected Innovators is delivered by Creative Edinburgh who will be on hand to help you find the support, skills, and expertise you need to develop your practice and ideas so you can take your work to the next level.
Applications for Round 4 Connected Innovators are now closed.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
Over the course of the Creative Informatics programme, five Creative Horizon Projects will explore the potential of emerging technologies to create new technical and business opportunities for the creative industries. Creative Horizon Projects will be high risk/high gain in nature, bringing academics and industry together with the aim of breaking new ground and establishing how technology could benefit the creative industries in the future. The findings of Creative Horizon Projects will be shared with Edinburgh’s wider creative community.
Creative Horizon 5 is now underway!
We are currently recruiting participants for research interviews and workshops through July, August and September. We want to talk to creative practitioners and organizations, trade bodies, NGOs, government departments, policymakers, and market and academic researchers.
FIND OUT MORE
If you have any questions about Creative Informatics, please contact us.
For updates on programmes and events, sign up to our mailing list.
EVENTS
Thu, 23 Mar 2023 Discovery Workshop
Join the Creative Informatics team for an informal workshop and find out more about applying for the Community Creative Tech Fund.
Tue, 28 Feb 2023 Discovery Workshop
Join us for an informal session to ask questions and get feedback on your application to the Participant & Alumni Creative Tech Fund.
Tue, 18 Apr 2023 CI Labs 23: Festival Futures
Join us as we explore the themes, ideas and methods our researchers used to produce FestForward magazine – a fictional, speculative cultural magazine, set in 2030.
Wed, 18 Jan 2023 CI Studio 23: Data-driven Innovation for Sustainable Creative Practice
Join us for a short film screening and discussion on local, Creative Informatics-funded projects taking ethical and environmentally sustainable approaches to their work.
Thu, 03 Nov 2022 CI Labs 22: Digital Identities
Join us as we bring together artists who explore issues of identity in alternative ways and use technology as a creative tool, including Rachel Maclean, Adam Castle, Martin Disley and Lynne Craig.
Fri, 21 Oct 2022 CI Studio 21: Protecting your creative digital assets: a consultation
What might new forms of digital ownership mean for creative digital assets; digital photography, film, NFT created artworks…? Find out about proposed legislation and feed into the consultatation.
Research
Acting on Feedback
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion efforts require continual observation, appraisal and adjustment if they are to respond to changes in circumstances and attitudes. In this post we look at some... READ MORESynthetic participants
On 10 August 2023, Creative Informatics held a workshop via Zoom designed to understand how best to invest resources to support innovation in creative AI / machine learning in... READ MORESOVRA: Subjective Orientation in VR Audio
SOVRA (Subjective Orientation in VR Audio) establishes a method for capturing listeners’ experiences of spatial audio in VR. Supported by a Creative Informatics Small Research Grant, Research Associate Ethan... READ MOREData-driven Innovation for the Creative Industries
Creative Informatics is funded by the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, managed by the Arts & Humanities Research Council as part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy. The programme is delivered by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University, Codebase, and Creative Edinburgh.
