Scheme details
Area: Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, County Durham, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Northumberland
Categories: Finance & funding
Business stage: Trading business
Page last updated: 18 November 2025
The CoSTAR National Lab is looking for applications from UK-based creative or technology focussed companies. This might include those working in film and TV development, animation, visual effects, games, digital content creation, live performance production, as well as those working in new forms of media and emerging technology.
In particular, this call looks to explore the potential for new workflows and production tools, including (but not limited to) innovations in:
- 2D and 3D capture or asset production
- Motion capture or motion extraction techniques
- AI-powered production pipelines
- Democratised production, where innovations significantly lower the barrier to entry, or increase accessibility to technology use
- Converged production, whereby use of common assets, tools and production workflows can enable efficient and effective translation of IP across different forms of creative output
Applicants need to be able to demonstrate a clear rationale for how their R&D projects could lead to commercial opportunities for their business (for example, through generation of technical or creative IP, or helping to unlock new markets). Applicants must also demonstrate why the CoSTAR support package on offer is needed to unlock these opportunities.
These projects will also help the CoSTAR Network to trial, test and showcase new ways of supporting R&D in the creative industries. The projects selected through this call are expected to deliver tangible outputs. These may be early-stage prototypes or proof-of-concept demonstrations, or later stage product developments that leverage the CoSTAR National Lab’s advanced infrastructure.
Application deadline: Monday 15 December 2025, 12.00 GMT
Programme dates: Call opens Tuesday 4 November 2025, 12:00 GMT and closes Monday 15 December 2025, 12:00 GMT
Who it's for: UK-based creative or technology focussed companies working on technical innovations within production pipelines.
Where it's based: CoSTAR National Lab, Egham, Surrey