Seed Fund

Overview

The Media Cymru Seed Fund enables Wales-based individuals and companies to apply for up to £10,000 to research and develop innovation-driven products, services, and experiences within the media sector.

We are looking for ideas that have long-term potential for you or your business beyond the life of the project with Media Cymru. By the end of the project, you will have the foundations of a business plan, a financial forecast and a pitch deck that will enable you to pitch for funding to investors. You may also be eligible to apply for up to £50,000 of Media Cymru Development Funding to take your idea to the next level.

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 (XR) technologies, including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR)
• 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 Seed 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

Key Dates

• 7 October 2024: Applications open
• 31 October 2024: Applications close at noon: applications will not be accepted after this time
• 6 December 2024: Applicants notified
• 21-23 January 2025: Ideas Lab Workshop (Excelsior Rd, Cardiff CF14 3AT)
• 3 February 2025: Projects begin.

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.

Eligibility

We welcome applications from different sizes and types of organisations including micro-businesses, sole traders and freelancers.

Eligibility criteria:

• Your company or practice is based in Wales.
• You have a clearly articulated R&D idea.
• You work 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 January and June 2025.
• We will only accept and fund one application per/company/organisation as a project lead.

What is Research and Development (R&D)?

Research and Development (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.

Ideas Lab

All successful Seed Fund applicants are required to attend a mandatory three-day Ideas Lab workshop taking place in Cardiff between Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23 January 2025. The workshop is led by PDR International Centre for Design and Research and The Alacrity Foundation UK.

The course will cover:

• Understanding R&D and how to apply it to an idea
• The value of iterative testing, collaboration and user centred design
• Business development and entrepreneurship
• Encouraging thinking around how to launch a product and generate public/private funding

On completion, participants will understand how to translate ideas into innovative proposals that incorporate the needs of end users.

A bursary of £500 will be provided to all attendees of the Ideas Lab workshop, in addition to the funding awarded for your seed project.

Got any questions?

Join our briefing webinar (Wednesday 9 October) to find out more about the Seed Fund, speak to our Media Cymru producers and ask any questions you may have.