The Future

Creative Informatics formally concludes at the end of March 2024, though plans for further activity means that the legacy of Creative Informatics continues in the future.

One of the most important legacies of the programme is the establishment of a new creative community in Edinburgh and South East Scotland, one that blurs the boundaries between creativity, data and technology and has helped people working in these spaces to find each other and access support. This type of networking, connection, and community will be supported in the long-term through Creative Tech Scotland, an initiative from the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI). Creative Tech Scotland has run two Annual Gatherings (with lots of CI participation) and will continue with an events programme to bring creatives working with data and technology together.

Creative Informatics will also continue through a series of new projects including our participation as core partners in two preferred bids in the UK Government’s Convergent Screen Technologies and performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) programme, a 6-year initiative to create state-of-the-art research and development facilities and drive the next generation of screen technology and on-set virtual production. We are working with Abertay University (home of InGame) and CI partner Codebase, to establish the CoSTAR Realtime Lab across two sites, in Water’s Edge studios in Dundee, and at Edinburgh College of Art. We are also working with Goldsmiths, University of London and the BFI to deliver the CoSTAR Foresight Lab, which will research the impact of the UK-wide programme and look at emerging developments for the screen and performance sector.

Creative Informatics’ insights and expertise, will also contribute to ekip, the European Cultural and Creative Industries Policy Platform, an EU-funded project (€6m) in collaboration with 16 partners across Europe, to develop policies that support innovation for future cultural and creative industries. We will also continue to engage with the European EIT Culture & Creativity (in which we are a partner), sharing forthcoming funding and development opportunities open to creatives in the UK.

Our researchers and experts at both the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University continue to work in ‘Creative Informatics’ as both universities now have research groups associated with this programme and the wider creative, data, and technology space.

In addition to these confirmed projects, we continue to seek new ways to support and collaborate with creative industries SMEs and larger creative and cultural organisations.