Heading in the right direction

The creative industries are a UK success story, key to our prosperity, wellbeing and resilience. From design to screen, fashion and textiles to heritage, they are generating high-quality employment and innovation. And the creative industries are firmly embedded in our research and development ecosystem, ensuring that the UK remains a world leader in the industries of the future.

The newly-published Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out the government and industry’s shared ambition to support the creative industries, recognising their social and economic value to the UK. Its aim is to make them an “even greater growth engine […] where creative talent from all backgrounds, and creative businesses from all areas in the UK, can thrive” and to maximise the impacts that the creative industries can have for society, the environment and for the UK’s reputation and influence around the globe.  

Sir Peter Bazalgette and all who worked on the vision from government and the Creative Industries Council have produced a compelling argument for investment. It also marks a significant moment for UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) with its breadth of investment across the creative industries. 

A clear steer for the future

UKRI has been closely involved in its development, feeding in learning from our research and ideas from our network of brilliant researchers, to provide a clear steer for the future. I am immensely proud of our successes in the creative industries. 

Over more than a decade, from Brighton Fuse, through Knowledge Exchange Hubs to the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) has built creative ecologies that are rich, diverse, nurtured over time and curated with foresight. 

And, as the sector vision recognises, our Clusters programme offers a proven model for creating jobs, spinouts, and new products, building skills, and leveraging co-investment. In Innovate UK we have seen similar successes, where our investment enables UK-based SMEs to innovate, capitalise on emerging markets and grow.

Bold ambitions

As we look to the future, and across the sector vision’s three goals for growth, the workforce and wider impact, UKRI’s ambitions are bold. We will build on the success of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme to support place-based, responsible, innovation-led growth in the creative industries. 

This includes delivering CoSTAR, our £75.6 million national network for the UK’s renowned screen and performance sectors. We have just announced the winning projects to take forward the network.

And we are truly delighted that the government has announced £50m to renew the Clusters Programme to support investment in new regions and sectors and build a bridge to a scalable successor programme in the next spending review period. 

We will work across our portfolio to develop a creative skills pipeline for the future. Programmes such as the recently launched XRtists include skills packages supporting the adoption and implementation of creative immersive technologies for the creative sector. 

Support for innovation

In the cultural heritage sector, which contributes c.£30bn gross value added to the UK economy, we are also confirming an £80m investment in the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme. It will provide a network of facilities, collections and expertise in conservation and heritage science that will secure the UK’s reputation for excellence in the field, further capability in the sector and promote collaboration at a national and international level. 

And UKRI has a growing portfolio of Centres for Doctoral Training providing a new generation of researchers with the technical skills and capabilities to deliver ground-breaking research and impact within the Creative Industries and cultural sector. 

Innovate UK will provide targeted and continuous support for business innovation through the Creative Catalyst programme. This will help innovative creative businesses to accelerate their journey from ideation to commercialisation through a pipeline of access to support such as easy-access agile funding, a creative peer network, investor partnership funding and international missions.

It is change that is best driven by arts and humanities ideas and thinking.

These are just a few examples; we can offer far more by continuing to work together across and throughout the journey from discovery research through to spin out and scale up. We are keen to do more, working in partnership, to explore our role within a much wider landscape.

A better world

Lastly, we want to harness the potential of the creative sector to change the world for the better. From designing in sustainability for a greener future, to increasing the adoption of sustainable practices within the sector and beyond, to finding responsible and trustworthy creative applications for technologies such as AI, the sector offers a clear route to positive change. It is change that we know is best driven by arts and humanities ideas and thinking.

But this is not just a job for UKRI. The creative industries are complex, multifaceted and evolving, and we need to work collaboratively to maximise the value of our efforts. This includes working with policymakers, with industry, with local communities and partners. As UKRI’s Sector Champion for the Creative Sector I am excited about working with colleagues and with the wider sector to build this sector-focused portfolio in line with the Sector Vision. 

And I am more positive than ever about the future of the creative industries. 25 years ago, my namesake the former Culture Minister Chris Smith wrote: “Creativity, culture, national identity and the nation's future wealth are all inextricably bound up together. It is skilled, creative people that make the difference. And the proper role of government is to enable that to happen."

This is still true, 25 years on, and the recognition of the creative industries as a growth engine for the UK economy, and the publication of the Creative Industries Sector Vision, are signs that we are heading in the right direction.

Christopher Smith is UKRI Creative Industries Sector Champion and AHRC Executive Chair.
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