UK Research and Innovation launches creative industries strategy – UKRI

Today, at the MusicFutures Creative Industries Cluster in Liverpool, Creative Industries Minister Ian Murray announced, the strategy for the creative and cultural economy.

The strategy will help UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) ensure its investments in the creative industries drive economic growth across the UK.

Minister Murray also referenced £500 million of funding for the creative industries, including:

• £369 million allocated to the creative industries by UKRI, of which £100 million is specifically allocated to supporting innovative companies
• £25 million secured at the 2025 Spending Review by Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to expand UKRI’s CoSTAR activity
• £155 million to develop creative economy infrastructure through the DiSCCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections) programme, an initiative to digitise the nation’s vast natural science collections

DiSSCo is funded through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund and subject to final business case approval.

Transformative impact

Creative Industries Minister, Ian Murray, said:

We’ve seen the transformative impact that government investment has had on Liverpool City Region’s music industry, helping innovative projects like MusicFutures flourish.

In our Industrial Strategy, we committed to driving growth and building on the regional clusters of creativity that exist across the UK.

I am pleased to launch the search for the next hotbeds of creative excellence to support.

As part of a record settlement of research and development funding over the next three years and beyond, we are going to help artists, entrepreneurs and businesses up and down the country innovate with new technologies, attract investment and nurture talent.

Promoting growth

By focusing on which interventions promote growth, and where, UKRI’s research and development (R&D) strategy for the creative and cultural economy will drive:

• the development of skilled workforce
• the adoption of new createch
• advances in intellectual property policy fit for the age of artificial intelligence

More detailed delivery plans for the strategy will follow later in 2026.

This comes a month after UKRI announced a record investment of £369 million in the creative industries as part of its allocations for the spending review period 2026 to 2030.

Record investment

UKRI creative industries sector champion and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith said:

UKRI has confirmed a record investment in the creative industries because they are vital to the UK’s prosperity and to driving economic growth through the industrial strategy.

But for that scale of investment to deliver maximum benefit, we need to ensure it is used wisely and strategically.

That’s why we are today launching our R&D Strategy for the Creative and Cultural Economy.

It will focus on making the most of our world class CoSTAR Network and Creative Industries Clusters, and scaling and growing the businesses, talent, skills, policy and evidence we need to supercharge the sector.

This strategy lays out the most connected and coherent investment we have ever made in the sector, building on past success, and will help us keep the creative and cultural sector at the heart of the UK economy.

Fuelling creativity

Innovate UK Executive Chair, Tom Adeyoola said:

Everything from gaming to entertainment, music and the arts, fuel our collective creativity and support thousands of businesses and high-quality jobs across the UK.

The launch of UKRI’s R&D Strategy for the Creative and Cultural Economy marks a significant moment for our creative industries, which represent both an important part of our economy and our cultural and national identity.

We’re fully committed to turning this strategy into real impact, helping to convert bold, creative breakthrough ideas into high potential businesses which start, scale and stay in the UK, and become the industry giants of tomorrow.

By streamlining access to funding and accelerating commercialisation of cutting-edge technologies, we will ensure opportunities reach regions and sub-sectors, driving inclusive growth and positioning the UK as the world’s leading destination for creativity and innovation.

Creative technology

UKRI has also published the Future avenues for createch – insights and recommendations report, following a series of participatory workshops including academic and industry experts.

Co-authored by the Creative PEC and CoSTAR Foresight Lab, the recommendations are intended to inform policy development and areas for future analysis and R&D to maximise the growth potential of createch have been identified.

The insights from this report will support delivery of the new strategy and the DCMS Creative Industries Sector Plan.

A national success

The UK’s creative industries are a major UK success story, being worth over £124 billion per year and supporting thousands of jobs across the country.

They are an important part of the government’s modern industrial strategy.

Through AHRC and Innovate UK, UKRI has a track record of investing in research and innovation that underpins and supports the creative industries, unlocking economic growth and improving lives.

Creative Clusters

A key part of UKRI’s new approach is its £100 million of additional investment in the Creative Industries Clusters, including a new £27 million opportunity that opened on 5 January 2026.

The Creative Industries Clusters were launched by AHRC in 2019 with a £56 million investment in nine original clusters based in areas across the UK.

The programme has since secured over £270 million in further public and private investment, boosting the economy, creating and safeguarding jobs, and demonstrating the power of the creative industries to improve lives.

Connecting artists, entrepreneurs, and researchers

MusicFutures, one of two new clusters announced in 2024, is led by the University of Liverpool in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University.

Its mission is to drive breakthroughs in technology, sustainability, and creativity.

By connecting artists, entrepreneurs, and researchers, MusicFutures is shaping a more equitable, sustainable, and globally competitive future for the Liverpool City Region and UK music industry.

Research and exploration

The other cluster announced in 2024, CreaTech Frontiers in the West Midlands, is led by Birmingham City University with Coventry University, delivered by a consortium of six core partners that includes:

• Coventry University
• the Royal Shakespeare Company
• the University of Birmingham
• the University of Warwick
• Digital Catapult

Its focus is developing the region’s micro and small and medium-sized businesses specialising in research and exploration of creative technologies like video games, virtual production and immersive reality.

Developing new entertainment technology

UKRI’s other investments in the creative industries include the £75.6 million Convergent screen technologies and performance in realtime (CoSTAR) programme.

CoSTAR is a national research and development network of laboratories developing new technology to maintain the UK’s world-leading position in:

• gaming
• TV
• film
• performance
• digital entertainment

The CoSTAR programme supports new innovations and experiences that will enrich UK’s creative industries, economy, and culture.

UKRI will also invest in high-level skills via doctoral awards and embedded academic and industry placements, and in evidence including through continued investment in the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre.