Gov.uk: Membership of new Creative Industries Taskforce announced
// Caroline Norbury // creative industries // UK Government
**Application deadline extended to Monday 15 August 2022 10am**
Creative England and Ukie have partnered again to recruit businesses who work in the games sector for the next cohorts of the prestigious Creative Enterprise programmes.
What is are the Creative Enterprise Games Programmes?
Our Creative Enterprise Games programmes exist to help ambitious businesses get the skills, knowledge, confidence and contacts that they need to succeed.
The Games Scale Up first ran in 2020 and is a prestigious 6-month programme, developed in partnership between Creative England and Ukie, to support more experienced games businesses.
In 2021, Ukie and Creative England launched a programme targeted at earlier stage game studios and, for the first time, a programme specifically devised for technology creators and service providers adjacent to the games sector. These are our Foundations for Game Studios and Foundations for Creative Tech & Services programmes.
These earlier stage programmes run over 3 months and provide the insights, network and resources needed to grow a sustainable business.
All of our programmes have been devised with industry leaders for games businesses who are looking to develop and grow their business.
Who is it for?
We are looking to recruit 10-15 diverse businesses for each programme, with a total of up to 45 participants across the three programmes.
Applicants must demonstrate that their work in some way promotes the art, creativity and storytelling power of game making.
What is involved?
Participants will attend workshops each, delivered remotely between September 2022 and March 2023. Dependant on COVID-19 developments, we aim to also organise in-person meet-ups around wider game industry events, for the cohort to network with each other and some of the programme’s speakers.
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Apply here for:
Foundations for Games and Immersive Tech & Services
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In Games Scale Up, participants who join the cohort will:
- Learn to create and begin the implementation of a comprehensive plan to scale their businesses
- Get expert advice on:
- Business strategy
- Business planning
- Funding and finance
- Taking their businesses to market
- Decision making
- How to structure teams and hire the right talent.
- Have the opportunity to meet angel and VC investors
- Learn directly from and build their network with proven industry leaders
On Foundations for Game Studios, participants will take part in expert led workshops on topics such as:
- Creating a game studio with strong culture and vision
- How to finance a game studios and why having a balanced mix of funding (from game sales, grants, loans etc.) makes a game studio attractive
- What a publisher is looking for
- How to approach networking events such as festivals and conferences
- Basics of marketing and PR for game studios
- What makes a sustainable game studio and how that can be achieved
On Foundations for Creative Tech & Services, participants will take part in expert-led workshops on topics such as:
- Creating a tech or service company with a strong vision, mission and culture
- Routes to a healthy financing mix (client income, recurring revenue, grants, loans and equity investment)
- Creating and maintaining a healthy deal flow
- Invoicing and ensuring clients pay for your services
- Basics of marketing, PR and SEO
- Basics of data insights and building a strong company identity
- What makes a sustainable company
All participants will receive a number of templates (such as cashflow forecasting and profit & loss templates) that will be useful, tailored for a game studio as well as access to Ukie and Creative Enterprise-specific perks including access to AWS credits.
Delivery for all core workshops is fully online, complemented by a number of in-person events organised around game industry events such as:
- EGX
- Develop: Brighton
- The Yorkshire Games Festival
Eligibility
The Games programmes specifically look to support developers, publishers or support services, who can demonstrate that their work in some way promotes the art, creativity and storytelling power of game making and who have the potential and ambition to scale their business.
Your business must be based in the English regions outside the M25. Thanks to partnerships with InGAME and Northern Ireland Screen, we are also able to accept applications from businesses based in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Some of the areas that we will consider while assessing the applications are:
- The business’s track record of game, product and service releases (including in Early Access and complementary programmes such as the UK Games Fund, Tranzfuser or the Games London Accelerator)
- The founder’s track record in the industry
- The team behind the company, including full time and part time employees and freelancers
- The business’s income and profit over the last 3 financial years (optional for applicants on the Foundations programmes)
- Your business vision and ambitions
What previous participants say:
‘Last year’s Games Scale Up programme really gave me the skills, confidence and ambition I needed to take Supergonk to the next level. Our team already had strong game development skills, but our business planning and strategic ambition were areas where I thought we could improve. The programme gave me access to expert advice and, importantly, a group of other founders who are in the same kind of position with which to share knowledge. I found that taking part in the Games Scale Up programme fundamentally shifted my focus to act and think like a business ready and able to scale. – Ben Ward, Founder, Supergonk
“Being part of the Games Scale Up programme was a key moment for me and Huey Games, helping clarify my thinking and shift the direction we needed to go in as a business; shaping where to look for investment and leading to real, tangible growth for the company over the last 18 months.” – Rob Hewson, Huey Games, Games Scale Up
How to apply
You are required to fill in an application at these links. We also accept audio-only and video applications.:
- Games Scale Up
- Foundations for Game Studios
- Foundations for Creative Tech & Services
If you are unsure which programme suits you best, you can book a call with the Creative Enterprise team here, to explore your options. We highly encourage you to look at the application forms by starting an applications before having your call.
**Applications deadline extended to Monday 15 August 2022 10am**
