Funding and Networking Opportunities

Last updated: 27 Mar 2026

Open Funding Opportunities

These are current and new grant-funded opportunities relevant to Createch in the UK and Europe.

1. Currently closed, but may reopen later in 2026 - Creative Enterprise Business Builder: Grant support for companies working in moving image storytelling across film TV games animation and immersive sectors.
2. Closed - UK-CreaTech Frontiers Growth Lab: CreaTech Frontiers Growth Lab is a 10-week business growth accelerator aimed to provide tailored support to creative technology companies in the West Midlands to achieve their commercial goals and grow their business. This programme is designed for early-stage companies, who are at or above a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 3 and Commercial Readiness Level (CRL) of 3-6. This programme focuses on early-stage development where a business has successfully delivered a Proof of Concept (PoC) and who would now benefit from bespoke support to achieve their own specific growth goals.
3. Closed - UK-Ireland collaboration in the creative economy: research networking awards: This funding opportunity aims to form research networks and conduct collaborative networking and partnership development activities between creative economy researchers and wider stakeholders in the Ireland and the four nations of the UK.
4. Open: Closes 1 April 2026 - Knowledge Transfer Partnership: 2026 to 2027 round one: UK registered academic institutions, research and technology organisations or Catapults can apply for a share of up to 10 million GBP to fund innovation projects with businesses.
5. Open: Closes 9 April 2026 - BFI National Lottery Innovation Challenge Fund - Call 6: Awarding National Lottery funding to develop innovative new solutions which tackle the UK screen sector’s most critical challenges.
6. Open: Closes 15 April 2026 - DIGITAL (HORIZON-CL4-2026-04) - Developing and demonstrating core technologies for Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0 (IA) (Virtual worlds Partnership): Horizon Europe (HORIZON): The objective is to pave the way for the next generation of virtual worlds, enhancing immersive visualisation and interaction experience, immersing users at the centre of the Virtual Worlds applications, enabling seamless interaction and data exchange.
7. Open: Closes 23 April 2026 - Creative Innovation Lab (CREA-CROSS-2026-INNOVLAB): Creative Europe Programme (CREA): The Creative Innovation Lab support is for the design, development and/or spread of innovative tools, models or solutions applicable in the audiovisual (compulsory) and at least one the following sectors: music, books or museums.
8. Open: Closes 5 May 2026 - European Cooperation projects - Small Scale (CREA-CULT-2026-COOP): Creative Europe Programme (CREA): Areas of innovation can encompass a social or societal dimension, such as: audience engagement/development, working conditions of artists, gender equality, the inclusion of people with disabilities, people belonging to minorities and people belonging to socially marginalised groups, fighting climate change, digitisation and AI for the benefit of creativity and creators, etc., as well as cultures contribution to health and well-being.
9. Open: Closes 5 May 2026 - European Cooperation projects - Medium Scale (CREA-CULT-2026-COOP): Creative Europe Programme (CREA): Areas of innovation can encompass a social or societal dimension, such as: audience engagement/development, working conditions of artists, gender equality, the inclusion of people with disabilities, people belonging to minorities and people belonging to socially marginalised groups, fighting climate change, digitisation and AI for the benefit of creativity and creators, etc., as well as cultures contribution to health and well-being.
10. Open: No closing date - Isambard-AI and Dawn AIRR supercomputers: Gateway route (UK): Apply for 10,000 graphics processing unit hours on the Isambard-AI and Dawn supercomputers for artificial intelligence-related research and development projects. Open to UK researchers from academia, industry, or other organisations.

Networking Opportunities

These are networking opportunities in the near future relevant to Createch businesses.

• March 2026 - London, UK - Creative Tech London 2026: Creative technologists, innovators, and curious minds meet in London for Creative Tech London 2026, a day dedicated to the ideas, tools, and talent shaping the next era of creative innovation.
• March 2026 - Basingstoke, UK - SPARK: Where Creativity Meets Technology – Hampshire CreaTech Event: SPARK is Hampshire's new CreaTech networking experience, bringing together the region's most innovative creative minds and tech trailblazers – meeting  you at the crossroads of creativity and tech!
• May 2026 - Bradford UK - Creative Cities Convention: Annual event for professionals making film TV or digital content outside London.
• June 2026 - Manchester, UK - Creativity and AI: Free and Open-source AI Tools and Platforms: The third and final event of the 2026 CreaTech Network Series explores the role of free and open-source AI tools and platforms in creative and cultural practice, and how open technologies can support collaboration, innovation and sustainable development across the sector.
• July 2026 - London UK - SXSW London: Platform for innovation discovery and creative convergence across digital and cultural industries.

Createch Grant and Loan Funding Landscape (UK & Europe)

The following sources of grants and loans are relevant to Createch SMEs across the UK and Europe.

Createch Venture Funding Landscape

The following global funding sources of venture funding are relevant to Createch SMEs across the UK and Europe.

This page is updated quarterly, so be sure to return and check for new opportunities.

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