How layered funding unlocks long-term creative technology growth

Led by the University of Bristol and backed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), MyWorld is a five-year £30 million programme supporting creative technology innovation across the West of England. Delivered through a consortium of regional partners from academia and industry, including Digital Catapult, the programme brought together research and industry to support businesses working in creative technology.  

Digital Catapult led the delivery of Challenge programmes and Collaborative Research & Development (CR&D) funding on the MyWorld programme, providing low-risk opportunities for businesses to experiment, collaborate and carry out innovative R&D as they progress from experimentation to deeper research and commercial opportunity.  

MyWorld Challenge programmes, delivered by Digital Catapult, support rapid experimentation and early-stage innovation. These time-bound programmes provided funded, low-risk opportunities for companies to develop prototypes, test ideas and explore emerging technologies in response to challenges shaped with industry partners including NVIDIA, the BBC and Amazon Web Services (AWS). This enabled startups to access expertise, infrastructure and insight that would typically be out of reach, while allowing leading industry partners to engage directly with emerging regional talent, including companies that would often sit outside of traditional procurement frameworks and there be difficult to access through conventional routes. 

Alongside funding, the accelerator programmes provided a structured package of technical and commercial support designed to help companies translate ideas into viable products. Participants began by working with a regional expert on value proposition development, helping them clearly define their offering and market opportunity. This was complemented by external pitching workshops, alongside investor-readiness sessions delivered by Digital Catapult’s investment team, enabling companies to refine their commercial strategy and confidently present their ideas to potential partners and investors. 

Throughout the programme, teams also received ongoing technical feedback from Digital Catapult’s immersive technologists, who worked closely with participants as they develop and iterate their prototypes. Companies were then given opportunities to showcase their work to large regional audiences through MyWorld events; including a public demonstration at Loco Klub Bristol where over 500 attendees engaged with emerging creative technologies developed through the programme. 

For companies ready to deepen their innovation activity, CR&D funding delivered by Digital Catapult supported longer-term, research-led collaboration between industry and academia. This stage enabled access to specialist research expertise and facilities, supporting more ambitious exploration and the technical the development of robust innovation roadmaps. Crucially, it also allowed larger, more established companies across the West of England to de-risk experimental innovation, working with research organisations to better understand where effort and investment can be focused to move the needle in creative technology R&D. 

Together, these programmes formed a progressive pipeline through which companies not only build momentum but also play an active role in enhancing the strength and vibrancy of the regional ecosystem.  

MyWorld’s layered, place-based model is reflected across the journeys of companies supported through the programme, showing how early experimentation can lead to deeper R&D, investment readiness and international opportunity.  

For Meaning Machine, a Bristol-based creative technology studio building AI-driven tools for immersive games and interactive storytelling, –engagement with MyWorld Challenge Call 1 and industry partner NVIDIA marked a clear turning point. It provided the time and structure for Meaning Machine to focus on core technology and test its potential beyond early experimentation. The team described the Challenge programme as “the big unlock”, explaining that it was the moment they realised they had “something worth building”. With a clearer roadmap in place, Meaning Machine progressed into CR&D, collaborating with academic partners including the University of Bristol. This deeper research strengthened technical credibility, supported successful angel investment, and enabled international showcasing at events including SXSW and BEYOND, with the team noting that CR&D funding helped make conversations easier by demonstrating technical validation and a clear path to customers.

Motion Impossible followed a similar pathway to Meaning Machine. Initial support from Digital Catapult through the Challenge programme accelerated experimentation in software and intelligent control systems, work that the company said would otherwise have taken a lot longer to realise independently. Progression into CR&D supported a strategic shift from hardware-led innovation towards software-driven growth, enabling team expansion, increased R&D capability and new commercial models. Reflecting on this journey, Motion Impossible emphasised that Digital Catapult support was not only technically transformative, but confidence-building, noting that without it they “wouldn’t be where [they] are now”. 

This layered journey is also evident in the experience of The Black Laboratory, which used Challenge Call funding to prototype a motion-capture puppetry system focused on accessibility and non-verbal communication. Follow-on CR&D and fellowship support enabled deeper research, while keeping the team embedded in the region. In 2025, the studio showcased this work at SIGGRAPH, raising both its profile and international awareness of creative R&D in the West of England.  

Meanwhile, Impress Launchpad, led by Force of Habit, progressed from Challenge Call 1 – validating its AI-powered marketing toolkit for indie game developers – into Challenge Call 2, expanding into AI-driven creator discovery integrated with platforms such as Twitch and Steam. Founder Ashley Gwinnell described the funding as “unique and significant” at a critical stage, enabling full-time focus on product development. Alongside funding, MyWorld and Digital Catapult business support helped sharpen Impress’s commercial strategy, while programme credibility unlocked further national investment through Innovation UK Creative Catalyst.  

Across the cohorts, companies also highlighted the importance of the programme’s commercial and strategic support alongside technical development. For example, Anagram Immersive emphasised how the session helped shape their approach to bringing products to market, with Clarice Hilton, Research and Developer, noting that they supported the team to “think about the business side of it and developing our strategies around how we’re going to actually turn the prototype into a business plan and put it into our strategy overall”.  

Together, these journeys show how MyWorld connects early experimentation with deeper R&D and sustained regional support – enabling creative technology companies to build capability, attract investment and reach new markets, while keeping innovation anchored in the West of England.  

The experiences of Meaning Machine, Motion Impossible and other MyWorld-supported companies underline the importance of layered, place-based funding models in supporting creative technology growth. Through a combination of industry-led Challenge programmes, collaborative R&D and continuity of regional engagement, MyWorld enables businesses to build technical capability, attract investment and scale with confidence. 

As a key MyWorld partner, Digital Catapult has connected regional talent directly with industry opportunity – accelerating innovation while ensuring growth remains rooted in the West of England.