Creative Economy Champion - Media Arts

Lead Research Organisation: Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: Media Arts

Abstract

The AHRC has identified the creative economy as an area of strategic importance, as evidenced in our 2016 - 2020 Delivery Plan. During the last spending period (2011-2015), the AHRC spent circa £100m on research related to creative economy interests.

Academic research plays a vital role in informing the development of new ideas, practices and business models and in building entrepreneurial capacity in the creative economy. The AHRC is committed to playing a lead role in facilitating and brokering relationships and collaborations between the creative sector and arts and humanities research, as well as connections to the wider research base.

The Creative Economy Champion will play an important role in helping the AHRC put a clear narrative around our investment in this area. A key role of the successful AHRC Creative Economy Champion will be to cultivate connections across existing relevant AHRC investments and identify potential gaps to be addressed over the next 3 years. The Champion will be expected to work closely with AHRC, RCUK and other funding bodies to support and develop partnerships and identify areas of synergy as we move into the next phase of support for Knowledge Exchange and the Creative Economy.

Planned Impact

As AHRC Creative Economy Champion Andrew Chitty will focus on enhancing and extending the AHRC's reach in the creative economy, emphasising the importance of arts and humanities research in generating impact across the sector, ranging from micro-businesses to large corporations During his three-year post at the AHRC, Professor Chitty will focus on helping to develop thinking around research in the creative economy, building innovative new partnerships and championing the importance of collaboration in this important sector of the UK economy

Beneficiaries:
Creative Economy focused HEI's, research groups and individual researchers
Regional Economic Development Agencies across the UK
Public Policy professionals and government departments with responsibility for the Creative Economy.
Creative practitioners and Creative Businesses across the Creative Economy.
Creative sector industry groups, IROs and Business Support Agencies

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description The initial Creative Economy Champion award was intended to deliver a programme of work that would develop more sustainable and more meaningful interactions between the Arts and Humanities research community and Creative Businesses across the UK.

By focussing on identifying those engagements which would deliver value to creative businesses, particularly in the development of new products, services and experiences, the programme has identified:

* A number of areas of significant opportunity for research and Innovation in the Creative Industries
* The multiple research disciplines that are required to be brought to bear on those areas of opportunity
* an initial typology of modes of research and innovation through which academic researchers, universities and creative business can work together to develop novel products, service and experiences

One output of this work has been to engage with the newly formed UK Research and Innovation, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to shape these research findings into new funding streams for the support of Research and Innovation in the Creative Industries.

Two such programmes have been commissioned as part of the UK Governments Industrial Strategy through UKRI's Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
The Audience of the Future Challenge is a £50m programme in Business lead creative R&D to develop next generation immersive experiences including pre-commercial trials of demonstrators in moving image, visitor experience, sports broadcasting and performance as well as a large scale collaborative R&D programme in Production Innovation for Immersive Content (PIIC)
The Creative Industries Clusters Programme is a £100m Research and Innovation programme supporting 9 partnerships between Universities and Creative Businesses across the UK to deliver economic growth through stimulating R&D in clusters of Creative Businesses. Each R&D partnership is lead by two HEI's working with local SMEs and large creative businesses focussing on the particular innovation challenges of that creative cluster,

These outcomes, £89m of public investment and very significant funds leveraged from industry and sector partners, are a direct result of the research and knowledge exchange activities delivered though this grant. The PI on the grant now directly manages the two programmes as UKRI Challenge Director.
Exploitation Route The Audience. of the Future (https://www.ukri.org/innovation/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/audience-of-the-future/) and Creative Industries Clusters Programme (https://creativeindustriesclusters.com) which are direct outcomes of this Creative Economy Champion grant will continue through to 2022/23 and will continue to document and publish work that uses the outcomes of the CEC grant. Eat programme has an ongoing evaluation programme which will publish findings on a regular basis. A successor to the Creative Economy Champion grant will be launched soon and continual efforts will be made to disseminate findings and engage with sectors of the Creative Industries and of the academic research community not reached by programmes to date.
Sectors Creative Economy

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

URL http://www.ceprogramme.com
 
Description The establishment of the AHRC Creative Economy Champion role and the activities carried out during the initial 3 year fellowship contributed to a significant step change in the interaction of the academic research community, creative industries sectors and government policy. These include: * The development of the conceptual framework, methodological approach and logic model that underpinned the subsequent Creative Industries Clusters programme and Audience of the Future Challenge which created together a £100m public investment in HEI/Industry creative R&D. *The identification of innovation and R&D as a major driver for government policymaking for the Creative Industries for the first time a expressed in the recommendations of the Bazalgette Review (2017) and the identification of the creative industries as a major innovation driven sector of the creative industries as expressed in the Creative Industries Sector Deal (2018) and the UK Government Industrial Strategy (2018) both of which strategies the PI contributed to as AHRC CEC. * The establishment of formal structures through which research and innovation. stakeholders were included in government/industry dialogues over Creative Industries Policies culminating in a UKRI representative becoming a member of the Creative Industries Council for the first time (2020)
First Year Of Impact 2017
Sector Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description Chair: Beyond Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Over the last 5 Years Beyond has become the UK National conference for Creative Research and Innovation, drawing natinal an international audiences. It now comprises a three day event with a central conference programme sitting alongside an Industry Showcase, ERC Research expo and partner track events.
Beyond;s 5 editions have toured the UK (London, Edinburgh, Online, Belfast Cardiff) drawing a love audience of 500 delegates and an online audience of double that size, in 2023 Beyond returned for the first time to London, delivering Beyond Global in partnership with The British Council, bringing together more than 500 delegates from 23 countries to explore creative innovation and R&D opportunities in the UK, western Balkans, Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Central-, South- and South-East Asia.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024
URL http://www.beyondconference.org