The competition is being run by the Technology Strategy Board and offers great opportunities for businesses across the creative sector. It is split into four categories, energy, digital, healthcare and sustainability. 

The first step to getting involved is to produce a short two-minute video setting out your idea for a £25k project and upload it at the TSB web site. But you’ve got to be quick, because the deadline is Thursday, September 16.

From these videos 15 applications in each category will be asked to put forward a written business case. The judges will then invite three businesses from each category to pitch their “killer idea” before a panel of experts and the audience at Innovate 10, in London on October 12, with the final results being announced at the end of the day.

Four companies will each walk away with awards of up to £100k to fund six-month projects and eight others will receive £25k to fund three-month projects.

For full details about how to get involved visit the special Launch Pad web site NOW!

The TSB has targeted the competition at small companies because it recognise that it is often these companies who come up with the radical ideas but find it difficult to get the right sort of support to develop them through the early stages.

You will be able to visit the web site to view and comment on the ideas in the videos as the competition progresses.

Oct 12 is a date for your diary. Innovate the leading networking, conference and exhibition takes place and we will have a strong presence. Innovate is the Technology Strategy Board’s showcase event with some exciting speakers lined up and cutting edge technology exhibits. It’s a great place to not only see what other innovators are up to but to meet people from business, academia and government.

There are two seminars specially for the creative industry sector. The first is an entrepreneur showcase and the second looking at how digital technology will drive growth in the creative sector.The first seminar will hear from some of the entrepreneurs who have received TSB funding about the technology they have developed and how it is being deployed.

At the second seminar we will be unveiling findings from our first three Beacon Reports and will hear from keynote speaker Raymond Le Gue, programme  director, at the Digital  Media  Initiative, BBC Future Media &  Technology. We will also be hearing from two of our Theme Champions, Simon Hopkins and Frank Boyd,  who will be talking about two of the hottest issues facing creative businesses, metadata and convergence.

Innovate will have more content and exhibitors this year with a great focus on the commercial exploitation of the digital economy, healthcare, energy and sustainability.It’s a great place to find out how innovation can add value to your business and also find out where the great new opportunities exist.

Innovate is held at the Business Design Centre, London, and you can register for updates about the event and see details of the full programme on the TSB web site.

Digital Spark is being held at the University of Abertay, Dundee on Sept 1-2.

The conference is for SMEs from across the creative sector who want to understand IP, how to use it and how to protect their rights as well as open up new business opportunities.

Speakers include experts from Google, Nokia, Sony and Realtime Worlds, as well as leading law firms and the European Commission.

Places are still available at the conference and you can register online.

We have taken all the posters and post-it notes from the live events and put them online in two communities, partners wanted and skills offered. Everyone can now get involved or launch their own search for partners to collaborate with or offer their skills by posting their own details on the site.

The competition is being run by the Technology Strategy Board and we have a video interview with Alex Stanhope of the TSB in which he gives more details about the competition. The competition is split into two categories, fast track for which the deadline for applications is July 22 and mainstream projects for which the deadline is August 19. All the details are in the competition briefing paper.

Lord Puttnam

Is it time to find a new name for sustainability? Does it require a re-brand? That was one of the issues that came up at the launch of our project looking at how creative industries can lead us to a sustainable future.

It might not appear to be the biggest of issues but it certainly sparked off some interesting discussions at the event. Does sustainability imply that we simply want to keep things the way they are was one point raised, while another was the idea that the word sustainability has lost its impact.

It was certainly something that several people who were following the event via the live streaming and on Twitter commented on. However, no one came up with a “killer idea.” But feel free to throw your best ideas our way.

The event kicked-off with Lord Puttnam giving us his views on creative industries and sustainability and we then had a lively “round-table” debate using the Talkaoke format and technology. Jonathon Porritt chaired this and you can read his views on creative industries and sustainability on the Forum for the Future blog.

We will be putting up videos from the image in the next couple of days but if you haven’t registered for our Sustainability Beacon Project group then this is the time to do it. There was a big turnout for the launch event, both in person and online and we will be announcing some further events and sparking off some new discussions on our website

The debate in full swing

That is the question we will be posing tomorrow (June 16) when we kick off our “can the creative industries lead us to a sustainable future?” Beacon project.

Lord Puttnam, the award winning movie maker who now focuses on his work in the environment and education, will be providing the keynote address. He will joined by Sebastian Conran, one of the leading figures from the creative industries and chairman of our advisory board.

We then have a high powered group of industry leaders taking part in a live “have-a-go” talk show using Talkaoke which you can get involved in via our live web streaming

The panel is:

Prof Frances Corner, head of college, London College of Fashion

Michael Pawlyn, director Exploration Architecture

Tim Brown, CEO and president of global design consultancy, IDEO

Franny Armstrong, director of the Age of Stupid and founder of 10:10

Victoria Brooks, sustainability, strategy director, Naked Communications advertising agency.

This is going to be a great event that will generate some exciting ideas. Join us from 4pm tomorrow when we are streaming the event live from 4pm and feed in thoughts, ideas and questions.

We are working with the non-profit sustainability experts Forum for the Future to run this project over the next few months and you get involved by joining the creative industries and sustainability Beacon.

Alex gives us some great insights into the competition, how it will operate, what types of projects they are looking for and what constitutes a consortium.

In a second video he talks about the role of the TSB and the Digital Test Beds programme that has led to this competition.

They are both a “must watch” for anyone who wants to get involved in this project which will drive digital innovation in the UK.

You can also sign up for the remain events in Bristol, Glasgow and Manchester. You will be able to  find out more about the competition and get some insight into collaboration first hand from Alex and his TSB colleagues.

We want to understand how digital tools, such as graphic design software, CAD tools and collaborative workspaces, are being used today in creative and production processes and where their development is heading. We also want to hear from people about how they see these tools developing and what creative industries can learn from each other.

We are approaching a tipping point in digital technology that will see much richer, more fluid and intuitive creative tools becoming available to help creative people.

This project will help map out the potential landscape for the development of digital tools and enable people to navigate this future and make decisions that will create business value.

You can have your say, share your ideas and experience by taking the survey and joining the digital tools community. We are also offering a Flip Video in a draw for those who complete the survey.

We are inviting people to tender to deliver this next round of projects who have have experience of delivering imaginative and exciting activities that can enthuse industry leaders and innovators, and produce results that will help organisations turn visions of the future into business success. If this describes your organisation then we want to hear from you.
The next set of Beacon Projects are:
How content producers can develop direct relationships with consumers
Bridging the physical and digital worlds
IP and open source
For more information and full details of how to tender download a copy of the Terms of Reference. If you have any queries contact Jess Sully at jess@creativeindustriesktn.org.