Digital Innovate UK Grant Writing Masterclass for the Creative Industries with Tom Fiddian

In case you missed it, Future Screens NI hosted a virtual grant writing masterclass in partnership with Innovate UK. The Masterclass was delivered by Tom Fiddian, Innovation Lead for the Creative Economy at Innovate UK and Lorraine Acheson, Innovate UK Manager for Northern Ireland. Innovate UK is the UK's Innovation Agency providing funding and support to businesses for research, development and innovation. Since 2007, Innovate UK has provided funding of more than £2.7 billion for business-led projects.

The masterclass explained the process for applying for Innovate UK funding and provided expert advice on how to write a compelling grant application. See below for the recording of the masterclass!

Speakers:

Tom Fiddian is the Innovation Lead for the Creative Economy at Innovate UK. Since joining Innovate UK in 2013, Tom leads Innovate UK’s funding programme across all the Creative Industries, within the AI and Data Economy Directorate. He has run a number of significant funding activities ranging from supporting Art & Tech start-ups, to incentivising and securing substantial FDI from large multi-national media and entertainment corporations. He was the lead author on the successful £33m Audience of the Future business case and is currently managing the programme’s business-led funding activities. Tom has 10 years of broad cross-sector experience, designing consumer products in the Health, Packaging, Food and Telecoms industries. Tom is a Thought leader on technological innovation across multiple sectors. After leaving university, Tom set up his own company producing videos and creating immersive tour visuals for the music industry.

Lorraine Acheson is the Innovate UK Manager for Northern Ireland. Lorraine has a strategic leadership role in establishing cross-sectoral engagement with Innovate UK. Lorraine works with stakeholders from Government, industry and the academic sector to promote Innovate UK across Northern Ireland and to improve the economic and social impact of research and development. Lorraine has an expert understanding of regional capabilities and clusters. Lorraine’s background is in management consultancy, specialising in the health and life sciences, with over 20 years of experience gained in both the UK and Australia. Lorraine has extensive experience working with regional and national Governments, health care providers and commissioners, private sector and the European Commission.

Future Screens NI, AI Con and Northern Ireland Screen Joint Funding Call - Creative Frontiers: Capturing the AI Revolution on Screen

Future Screens NI, AI Con and Northern Ireland Screen are calling for submissions to a competitive funding call aimed at Capturing the AI Revolution on Screen. 

Applications are sought from film-makers, innovators at the cutting edge of AI, and SMEs active within the creative industries to produce a 3 minute film or animation short which captures the essence and implications of the current AI Revolution to be shown at AI Con 2020.  Films and animations shorts should be informative and educational.  Case studies of local companies are accepted provided the emphasis is upon increasing awareness and engagement with AI.  Fictional shorts are welcome but must be grounded in the science. Film and animation shorts should be directed towards a non tech audience and the general public.  Commercial showcases are not eligible for funding.  Four successful applicants will receive a grant of £5,000 to complete their project. 

Proposals will be assessed against the following criteria.

·       The quality of the proposed script and theme

·       Close alignment with Artificial Intelligence Education and Evangelism

·       Creativity of idea and approach

·       Track record in film making and/ or animation

·       Lead applicant company should be based in Northern Ireland

·       Active within the creative industries in Northern Ireland

Proposals that fit the above criteria should be submitted to n.toman@ulster.ac.uk by 12pm Fri 30th of October 2020.  Proposals should:

·       Outline the proposed script and theme.

·       Align with the themes of Artificial Intelligence Education and Evangelism.

·       Demonstrate creativity of both idea and approach.

·       Evidence of how the applicant fulfils the eligibility criteria.

AI Con 2020 is hosted by Aisling Events and the tech powerhouse behind BelTech, Kainos. The event will bring together world-leading and local technology professionals and business leaders to examine how AI is changing our world.  Film and animation shorts by successful applicants will be shown at this high energy, world class conference which engages professionals and developers, creatives, entrepreneurs and business leaders, who have led on adopting AI as a tool to build better services, products and businesses.  Successful applicants will have the unique opportunity to showcase their work on a global platform.

If you have any queries about the call please contact n.toman@ulster.ac.uk.

This opportunity closes at 12pm on Fri 30th of October 2020. Successful applicants will be notified on the 2nd of November 2020.  Please submit your proposal to n.toman@ulster.ac.uk in advance of the closing date.

Professor Andrew Chitty to Launch Future Screens nI Open Call

Future Screens NI are delighted to announce that Professor Andrew Chitty, Director of the UKRI Audience of  the Future and Creative Economy Programmes will launch the Future Screens NI Open Call Virtually at 12pm on Tues 6th Oct.  The Call will be officially open for applications of up to 20,000 for Proof of Concept Grants and up to 50,000 for Commercialisation Grants.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/join-professor-andrew-chitty-to-launch-future-screens-ni-open-call-tickets

Andrew Chitty is Challenge Director for the two Creative Industries programmes at the heart of the Creative Industries Sector Deal.  This unprecedented £120m investment in R&D across the creative sector is supported by the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy and delivered by UK Research and Innovation.

The £50m Audience of the Future Challenge will deliver a step change in the ability of UK creative sector to adopt and exploit immersive technologies (VR, AR and XR) through business led innovation whilst the £85m Creative Industries Clusters Programme supports nine University/Business R&D partnerships across the UK’s across the UK nations and regions.

With three decades of experience across the creative industries, Prof. Chitty’s career began in television, where he focussed on the cultural impact of science and technology before founding his first company, Illumina Digital, a multi award-winning digital production company that developed transformational services for clients across the creative economy - from the National Theatre to the devolved administrations, museums and galleries to the NHS.  With Illumina he won 4 BAFTAs, including two for technical innovation and lead the company from start-up to exit to an international media group.  He subsequently founded a digital health provider, taking the company to initial investment, and continues to act as a consultant and board advisor to growing businesses in the creative and healthcare sector.

Andrew is Professor of Creative Industries at Loughborough University, the Creative Economy Champion of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and a Trustee of TRC Media.  He is a former Vice Chair of the IP producers’ trade body PACT, a board member of Creative Skillset, and a founding director of Creative England. Andrew has also worked across policy and regulation as a ministerial advisor within DCMS and BERR (as was) and as a non-executive at OFCOM, the media and telecoms regulator. Andrew trained originally as a neuroscientist working in visual processing before being seduced into the media.

https://creativeindustriesclusters.com/

https://audienceofthefuture.live/

Professor Chitty will be joined by Professor Paul Moore, Director of Future Screens NI and Future Screens NI partner Kris Kelly from Enter Yes.

https://www.futurescreens.org/team   

Professor Paul Moore joined the University of Ulster in 1999 and has since been active in the development of the creative arts/industries policy in the University. He was head of the School of Creative Arts and Technologies from 2008 to 2017 before serving a short period as head of the School of Communication and Media. He is now Director of Future Screens NI, the AHRC funded creative industries cluster for NI, and is a Co-Director of Ulster’s Creative Industries Institute (CII). He was awarded a personal chair in 2009 becoming Professor of Creative Technologies, and was awarded a Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship in 2014.

Kris Kelly is the Managing Director and Founder of Enter Yes™ (SERVICE) - (Specialising in Animation for Documentary - Visual Effects) and Rewind Play Games™ (PRODUCT) - (video games).  Kris was nominated for a film BAFTA as Writer/Director - Here to Fall (2013), and Director of feature documentary - Kings of Sumava (2019).  Kris established Enter Yes™ as a visual effects service for independent film and bespoke award winning animation for documentary. 

Onar is a real time ray-tracing rendering solution developed in partnership with Future Screens NI, NVIDIA and Unity.

Small Town Big Dreams - A 4 part audio documentary series

Tonight at 8pm Blick Shared Studios will be hosting a live event about a new audio documentary they have created on the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic has had on a wide range of local creatives.

Hear from podcast co-creators Blick Shared Studios, The Infinite Jest, Karishma Kusurkar and Dr. Brian Dixon!

This event will be live on Instagram at 8pm and can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/blickstudios/

Future Tuesday - Brenda Romero on "The hidden history of women in tech"

Future Screens NI were delighted to welcome industry trailblazer and BAFTA winner Brenda Romero to speak at Future Tuesdays on the 15th of September. Brenda was speaking on the hidden histories of the women who made a vital contribution to the advancement of computers and programming.

Brenda Romero is an award-winning game designer, Fulbright scholar, artist and entrepreneur who entered the video game industry in 1981. As a designer, she has contributed to many seminal titles, including the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and titles in the Ghost Recon and Dungeons & Dragons franchises. Away from the machine, her analog series of six games, The Mechanic is the Message, has drawn national and international acclaim, particularly Train and Síochán Leat (The Irish Game) which is presently housed in the National Museum of Play.

In 2017, she was awarded the Development Legend award at the Develop conference in the UK. In 2015, she won the coveted Ambassador’s Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. In 2014, she received a Fulbright award to study Ireland’s game industry, academic and government policies. In 2013, she was named one of the top 10 game developers by Gamasutra.com and Develop magazine listed her among the 25 people who changed games in 2013. Romero co-owns Romero Games.