media.cymru

**media.cymru** is a collaboration between industry, academia and stakeholders to accelerate growth in the Cardiff Capital Region's media sector. The £50 million programme will drive research, development and innovation (R,D&I), to move the region's media sector from national to global strength.

This multi-faceted initiative reflects the complexity of the Cardiff Capital Region's media sector, which is made up of 1,300 SMEs and a large freelance workforce. Led by Cardiff University it brings together, for the first time, 24 partners to drive a comprehensive a strategic investment programme. Partners include broadcasters (BBC, Channel 4 and S4C), larger media players (Great Point), regional media SMEs (e.g. Rondo and Wales Interactive), media technology companies (e.g. Dragon Digital and Object Matrix), strategic organisations (Cardiff Capital Region, Welsh Government) and Universities to address key sectoral challenges and build R&D capacity.

Building on the success of the region's media sector, **media.cymru** will construct strategic, future-focused interventions to drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth. These interventions are designed to respond to **emerging technologies**, increase **capacity for innovation** among SMEs and address **sector skills** needs by:

* Developing infrastructure to respond to industry demand and spur economic uplift, including a world-class **virtual studio** and **virtual studio lab** and new forms of **connectivity** and storage.
* Curating an innovation pipeline - moving from ideas to R&D to market - that involves hundreds of regional SMEs, alongside a coordinated skills strategy to generate, attract, retain and upskill talent.
* Addressing key challenges for the Welsh media sector to: develop **new formats and genres** (such as interactive film and modular journalism); make Wales a testbed for **carbon neutral media production**; exploit our expertise in **bilingual production** to reach new markets; make media production more **diverse and inclusive** (and therefore more creative and audience-focused); develop new forms of **media tourism** to showcase the sector; and develop **immersive technology** for use in other sectors.

The partners include: Alacrity Foundation, BBC (Drama Studios, BBC R&D, BBC Wales), Boom Cymru, Dragon Digital, Cardiff Capital Region, Cardiff Council, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff Productions, Channel 4, Dragon Digital, Ffilm Cymru, Gorilla, Great Point Media, Nimble Productions, Object Matrix, Rescape Innovation, Rondo Media, Shwsh, S4C, Town Square, University of South Wales, Unquiet Media, Wales Interactive, and Welsh Government.

This programme aims to make the Cardiff Capital Region **a global hub for media innovation and production**. The proposed £50 million programme includes £22,247,946 investment from SIPF matched by £28,015,014 in co-investment.