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EM3 LEP gives £1m boost to immersive and creative tech businesses impacted by COVID-19

Last updated 28 September 2023
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Storyfutures

Enterprise M3 LEP has invested £900,000 in a world-leading project to help SMEs in the immersive and creative tech sectors recover and thrive following the impact of COVID-19.

The 'Creative Tech Growth Booster' from StoryFutures, based at Royal Holloway, University of London, will offer businesses new markets and increase their productivity by opening the doors to cutting-edge technology to diversify and develop their own products and services, while ensuring covid-safety requirements are met.

The Booster project will be the first to get off the ground with funding from EM3’s allocation of the government’s Get Building Fund. It will extend the state-of-the-art technology base at the Egham campus, embedding it within the R&D and technical support team of StoryFutures and its Academy, the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling.

Sue Littlemore, Head of Policy and Strategy at EM3 LEP said:

The Enterprise M3 area has a rich and diverse creative sector with great strengths in innovation in technology .

This investment will mean our creative tech sectors will be supported to be able to continue product development , diversification and  innovation to save and create jobs , despite the impact of the pandemic.

Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government, Luke Hall MP said: 

I am delighted that a £900,000 Getting Building Fund investment will support the Creative Tech Growth Booster project at Royal Holloway. Expanding the university’s stellar technology base will help foster world-leading creative industries in Surrey and beyond.

 Now more than ever, it is crucial we provide our creative industries with the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.

StoryFutures director, Professor James Bennett, added:

Funding from our partners is absolutely crucial to positioning the region’s creative industries as a world leader. In a crisis such as the current pandemic, innovation can be the first budget cut in creative industries whilst companies focus on core business. Without the ability to invest in the constantly changing technological landscape of this space by themselves, the region’s leading creative industries will be left behind. We look forward to watching the sector evolve in the very near future.

Royal Holloway’s offer to SMEs includes access to technology and facilities such as AI and cutting-edge immersive, virtual production and the Centre of Digital Creativity’s 360 sound environments. A virtual audience test bed for testing and insight will be made available, too.

The university is also offering incubation and hot-desk space for social distancing, and immersive travel kits which include green screen background, camera, motion trackers, specialist audio equipment and remote support to set up.

The total cost of the project is £1,400,000. Further contributions will come from StoryFutures projects in collaboration with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, The National Gallery and Shanghai Museum of Science & Technology, alongside industry partners who include, the  Discovery Channel, Heathrow and BBC.

 

 

Where

Address:

Egham Hill,
Egham
TW20 0EX
United Kingdom

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