UK registered micro, small and medium enterprises in the creative sector can apply for a share of up to £8 million for innovation projects to grow their business. This funding is from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (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:
Your proposal must:
The programme support comprises of three complementary strands:
The Create Growth Programme Competition 4 is split into 2 strands;
Strand 1: DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 4: small projects (this strand)
This strand is focused on small scale creative projects of costs between £20,000 and £50,000 and is 100% funded.
Strand 2: DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 4: large projects
This strand is focused on larger, more ambitious scale creative projects with total eligible costs between £50,000 and £200,000. This strand requires match funding.
You can apply to this programme once.
It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct strand for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application, and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Grant
Your project’s total costs must be between £20,000 and £50,000.
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Note that the closing date for this competition is 29 May and our offices will be closed 26 and 27 May.
Text update 4 April 2025: we have added guidance for clarity on the number of applications that can be submitted.
Your project
Your project must:
Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter (GOL) has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.
You must only include eligible project costs in your application. Total eligible project costs outside the minimum and maximum limits will be deemed ineligible.
See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.
You will be made ineligible if you exceed the Minimal Financial Assistance limit. You must submit a complete declaration as part of your application.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation must:
Businesses who have accountants registered in one of the 12 regions but are not operational in one of the appointed regions will not be eligible to apply.
The 12 DCMS Create Growth Programme appointed regions are:
You can check your local council with your post code.
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
You cannot allocate more than 75% of your total project costs to subcontractors.
Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.
Number of applications
You can only apply for this Create Growth programme Competition 4 once across both strands. If more than one application across both strands is submitted, only the first application will be progressed and any subsequent applications will be deemed ineligible. Previously funded Create Growth Programme business are eligible to apply for this round.
Sanctions
This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.
Use of animals in research and innovation
Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.
Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.
Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.
You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal.
If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies.
We will not award you funding if you have:
Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to Innovate UK in relation to other projects.
Grant funding in this competition is awarded as Minimal Financial assistance (MFA). This allows public bodies to award up to £315,000 to an enterprise in a three year rolling financial period.
In your application, you will be asked to declare previous funding received by you. This will form part of the financial checks ahead of Innovate UK making a formal grant offer.
To establish your eligibility, we need to check that our support added to the amount you have previously received does not exceed the limit of £315,000 in the ‘applicable period’.
The applicable period is made up of:
(a) the elapsed part of the current financial year, and
(b) the two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year.
You must include any funding which you have received during the applicable period under:
You do not need to include aid or subsidies which have been granted on a different basis, for example, an aid award granted under the General Block Exemption Regulation.
Further information about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements can be found in the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).
EU Commission rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.
In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation.
Further information
If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, you should take independent legal advice. We cannot advise on individual eligibility or your legal obligations.
We have allocated up to £8 million to fund growth focused innovation projects in the Create Growth Programme Competition 4.
Your total project costs must be between £20,000 and £50,000 and can be funded up to 100%. Total project costs outside the minimum and maximum limits will be deemed ineligible. The application form will not validate your costs.
This competition strand is for Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) and you can claim up to 100% of your total project costs, subject to your MFA limit. Please see the MFA section for further guidance.
You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution to your project in your application answer to question 10. It must not be detailed in the finance section.
All claims will be paid three months in arears on evidence of spending being incurred.
If you are applying for an award funded under European Commission Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.
The aim of the Create Growth Programme 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 funding is for 12 regions across England appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) Create Growth Programme.
The 12 regions are:
Your proposal must:
Your project must:
Portfolio approach
The total funding allocated for this competition covers both strands of the Create Growth Programme Competition 4:
Strand 1: DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 4: small projects (this strand)
Strand 2: DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 4: large projects
We want to fund a variety of projects across each of the different DCMS Create Growth appointed regions, creative sub-sectors, technologies, markets, technological maturities and research categories. We call this a portfolio approach.
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:
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.
We are not funding projects that:
We cannot fund projects that:
We are unable to progress applications who haven’t submitted their application form correctly, this includes applications who:
31 March 2025 Competition opens
3 April 2025 Online briefing event: watch recording.
Briefing slides are now available to download from Supporting Information.
29 May 2025 11:00am Competition closes
1 August 2025 Applicants notified
1 October 2025 Project start from
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.
Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:
You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.
What we ask you
The application is split into four sections:
Accessibility and Inclusion
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Note that the closing date for this competition is 29 May and our offices will be closed 26 and 27 May.
This section provides background for your application and is not scored.
Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.
Application team
Decide which people from your organisation will work with you on the project and invite those people to help complete the application.
Application details
Give your project’s title, start date and duration.
Project summary
Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Public description
Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Scope
Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition and the region that your project is operational or registered in. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. You will be notified of this outcome.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
The assessors will score your answers apart from questions 1 to 6. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.
You must answer all questions. Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.
Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any subcontractors working on your project.
Your organisation must be registered or operational in one of the 12 Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Create Growth Programme appointed regions.
We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.
Question 2. Appointed Create Growth Programme Region (not scored)
Only businesses registered or operational within the DCMS Create Growth Programme appointed regions are eligible to apply for this competition.
Please select one the following 12 regions in which your organisation is registered or operational.
The 12 regions are:
You can check your local council with your post code.
Question 3. Primary sub-sector (not scored)
Select which primary sub-sector your organisation focuses on:
Question 4. Minimal Financial Assistance declaration (not scored)
You must download the declaration template. You must complete this, declaring any funding received under Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) or De minimis awards, (from any source of public funding) in the applicable period.
You must complete all the fields on your form before uploading.
You must write ‘declaration attached’ in the question text box.
You must upload all the completed declarations as an appendix. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It must be legible at 100% zoom.
You must keep all documentation relating to Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) and other De minimis awards for a period of six years. You must be prepared to release it to any public funding body which requests it.
Question 5. Animal testing (not scored)
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?
You must select one option:
We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.
Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.
Question 6. Permits and licences (not scored)
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?
We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.
You must select one option:
Question 7. The project (scored out of 25)
What is the project you intend to undertake?
Describe in your answer:
Question 8. Impact and added value (scored out of 25).
Demonstrate the expected impact this funding will have on your business within the first 12 months.
Explain:
Question 9. Business planning and resources (scored out of 25)
Who is in the team and what is your capability to deliver a solution?
Describe:
Question 10. Project plan, risks and costs (scored out of 25).
What will you do with the grant funding?
How will you manage the project effectively, and the risks appropriately?
Explain:
You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to one A4 page long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
You can submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer detailing main work packages, specific milestones and project management. It must be a PDF, up to two A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
You must complete your own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application.
Your total project costs and must be between £20,000 and £50,000 and can be funded up to 100%. Applications with total projects costs outside the minimum and maximum limits will be deemed ineligible.
You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application question answers but these must not be detailed in this finance section.
For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance please see the eligibility section in this competition. You can also view our application finances video.
This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.
You must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.
More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.
Your application will be reviewed by one independent assessor based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.
You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.
Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:
Support from your local Create Growth Region
If your application is selected, you must contact your regional support. Their contact details will be included in your Grant Offer Letter (GOL). They can signpost you to additional support and services, both local and national, that form part of the wider Create Growth Programme.
This competition is the fourth round of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Create Growth Programme.
Contact details for the Creative Growth Programme regions:
Online briefing event: watch recording.
Briefing slides are now available to download:
Applicant Briefing DCMS Creative Growth.pdf (opens in a new window)
If you are successful with this application, you will be asked to set up your project and provide a 30 word project description of your proposal for DCMS comms purposes.
You will be notified by email on the date published for this competition. Notifications may be sent any time up to 5pm.
You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your Innovation Funding Service (IFS) Set Up portal, where we gather the information to set up your project.
Watch our video on what steps there are before a project starts.
During the project set up you will be assigned a delivery executive who will guide you through the whole project set up process.
Following your email notification, you will need to provide the following within 5 days (including weekends and bank holidays):
You will need to provide the following within 30 days (including weekends and bank holidays):
You will have 60 days (including weekends and bank holidays) to complete all of your project set up. Within this time, you will also be required to submit:
Your funding offer may be withdrawn if project setup is not completed within this or an alternative timeframe as advised by Innovate UK.
In order for us to process your claims, you must make sure you have a valid UK business bank account. It can take several weeks for a new account to be created if required. We recommend starting this process as early as possible to avoid any delays to your project start date.
The bank account which grant is to be paid into must:
Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria.
Innovate UK will accept most banking societies apart from:
If you have any doubts that your bank account will not meet Innovate UK's funding criteria, you can use the sort code checker. If you input the sort code and find a tick next to the ‘BACS Direct Credit payments can be sent to this sort code’, this will give you an indication that the bank account you hold is acceptable.
Finance checks
We will carry out checks to make sure all organisations are UK registered with access to the funds necessary to complete their project.
You must check your IFS portal regularly and respond to any requests we have sent for additional information to avoid any delays.
If you are not a UK registered organisation or fail to complete project setup this may result in your grant offer being withdrawn.
During our financial due diligence checks you must provide evidence of how you will finance your project costs for the duration of your project. Grant claims are submitted three months in arrears.
Your Grant offer letter (GOL)
Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your GOL.
The GOL will be made available on your IFS portal. You will need to sign and upload this for us to approve. Once approved we will send you an email with permission to start your project on your confirmed start date.
You must not start your project before the date stated on your email and GOL. Any costs incurred before your agreed start date cannot be claimed as part of your grant.
If your GOL is approved on or before the fifteenth of the month it will be dated from the first of that month. If your GOL is approved after the fifteenth, it will be dated the first of the next month.
If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessor who scored your application. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.
Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach applied for this competition.
We would like to remind you that eligible non-funded business can still benefit from fully funded and bespoke support from the Innovate UK Business Growth service.
Innovate Business Connect are helping businesses in accessing and engaging with the regional support. Visit the service's website to benefit from this advisory support.
Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.
Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Please visit the service’s website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike.
A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.
This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (each an ‘agency’).
Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.
This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to DCMS and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:
Innovate UK and DCMS are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, and DCMS will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Privacy Policy
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.
The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.
If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.
Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Note that the closing date for this competition is 29 May and our offices will be closed 26 and 27 May.
Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.