Development Fund

Overview   

The Media Cymru Development Fund offers up to £50,000 for Wales based individuals and businesses to research and develop (R&D) innovation-driven projects that demonstrate clear potential for a tangible product, experience or service in the media sector. 

We are looking for ideas that have long term economic benefits for the media sector in the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) or Wales.  

 Successful applicants will benefit from four mandatory sessions (totalling eight hours), plus an optional session (three hours), with world leading design consultancy and applied research facility PDR.  

There will also be four mandatory support sessions (totalling eight hours) from The Alacrity Foundation providing business development and commercialisation expertise. 

Scope  

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:  

• New media formats and the development of innovative content  
• Advanced media production, including the convergence of virtual production and traditional production  
• New and inclusive media business models and production processes  
• Net zero and the decarbonisation of the screen sector (projects that respond to the findings of the Screen New Deal Transformation Plan for Wales are particularly welcome)  
• Immersive storytelling through extended reality (XRxr) technologies, including virtual reality (VRvr), augmented reality (ARar) and mixed reality (MRmr)  
• Video game content and production, including convergence with other media  
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies as tools for media production  
• Placemaking, including cultural and media tourism  
• Bilingual and multilingual production  
• News and public information  
• Music, voice and audio production, including performance and distribution.  

The Development Fund is not suitable for:   

• Generic content development (for example, the development of short films, feature films or television pilots that conform to standard genres and storytelling practices)    
• General business development, or   
• One-off art commissions.  

Accessibility      

If you have any specific requirements that would make the application more accessible to you (such as advice, scribing or reading support) or would like to discuss this application in an alternative format (video or audio formats, audio narration, large font, plain text, or alternative language) please email media.cymru@cardiff.ac.uk or phone 02922 511 434.  

Key Dates  

• 3 February 2025 – Applications open  
• 28 February 2025 – Applications close at noon: please note, applications will not be accepted after this time  
• 14 April 2025 – Applicants notified (applicants should note that it can take up to 5 weeks for contracts to be issued)  
• 9 June 2025 – Projects begin.  

Eligibility  criteria 

• Your company or practice is based in Wales    
• You have a clearly articulated R&D idea    
• You are in the Welsh media industry, or your idea directly benefits the Welsh media industry  
• You can dedicate time and effort to complete an R&D project between June 2025 and May 2026  
• We will only accept and fund one application per/company/organisation as a project lead 

Media Cymru’s definition of R&D    

R&D activities are defined as creative and systematic work undertaken to address challenges and to create new or improved products, services, processes or experiences.     

In a media context, this could mean exploring, experimenting with or testing new technology such as extended reality, artificial intelligence or virtual production. It could also mean exploring radical, fairer and more planet-friendly ways of working. It could involve testing new methods of producing, distributing and experiencing content, or new ways of reaching audiences and being more sensitive to their needs and demands.   

The kind of R&D projects we are looking for are:  

• Novel: they will be based on original concepts and hypotheses, not obvious ones  
• Creative: they will take experimental approaches and generate new findings  
• Uncertain: they will begin with a degree of uncertainty about the final outcomes  
• Systematic: they will be based on a planned and budgeted approach  
• Transferable: they will generate results that can be reproduced to gain wider benefits.   

Media Cymru Pillars   

We are keen to support projects that address some, or all, of our four strategic pillars: 

• Green – reducing the environmental impact of the sector 
• Fair – creating a fair, equal and diverse sector 
• Global – increasing international collaborations   
• Growth – driving growth and productivity through R&D.