The UK government has announced that the Tay Cities Region in Scotland will receive up to £20 million to accelerate growth in its creative technology sector, with the investment aimed at boosting local innovation, creating jobs, and strengthening the regional economy. The funding will support the area’s growing reputation as a hub for creative and digital industries, particularly across Dundee, Perth, Angus, Fife, and Perth and Kinross, where local talent and research capacity are already driving advances in areas such as video games, design, and immersive technologies.
The funding comes through the competitive strand of the UK government’s £500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, which is part of the government’s wider £86 billion research and development settlement running through 2030. Announced on 25 March, the award reflects the UK government’s intention to back regions with strong innovation potential and help them turn research strengths into commercial growth. For the Tay Cities Region, the support is expected to build on an already thriving creative tech base, with Dundee’s creative and digital industries alone having generated £353 million in turnover in 2022.
The investment is intended to help local innovators move ideas more quickly from prototype to market, support collaborative research and development, attract specialist talent, and create clearer pathways to investment and new markets. The creative technology focus includes sectors such as video games, design-led innovation, and emerging tools like virtual reality (VR) and virtual production. These capabilities are seen as having applications well beyond entertainment, including in fields such as healthcare, energy, education, and cultural experiences, where immersive technologies can open up new business models and service innovations.
Government ministers described the funding as a major opportunity to build on the region’s existing strengths. They highlighted the Tay Cities Region’s established reputation in games development and virtual reality and said the investment would help take this expertise to the next level. The goal is not only to support the region’s creative industries, but also to use them as a driver of broader economic growth and innovation, helping to generate new products, services, and high-quality jobs across Dundee, Perth, and surrounding areas.
The partnership delivering the initiative is being led by Abertay University, which brings internationally recognized expertise in games, virtual production, and emerging technologies. Industry support will come from organizations such as 4J Studios, UK Games Talent and Finance, and CodeBase, which will provide growth support and investor connections. Additional partners include Creative Scotland, the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and V&A Dundee. Together, these institutions are expected to create a strong ecosystem linking research, creative practice, entrepreneurship, and investment.
The Tay Cities award is part of a broader national effort to strengthen regional innovation across the UK. The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, operated by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), supports collaboration between local authorities, businesses, and research institutions to turn local research strengths into practical solutions that improve lives and create jobs. Ten regions across the UK had already been earmarked to share funding through the programme, with £360 million previously allocated, including support for Glasgow City Region, which is targeting its own major investment in health and life sciences.
The initiative also builds on the earlier Innovation Accelerators programme, which has already demonstrated the economic potential of place-based innovation funding. According to the government, that programme has attracted around £240 million in private investment and created hundreds of jobs, while also supporting real-world advances in areas such as early cancer detection and faster diagnosis of heart and lung diseases. The Tay Cities investment is intended to follow a similar model by translating local research and industry strengths into commercial and social impact.
Although the award is set at up to £20 million, the final amount will depend on further work between UKRI and the local partnership to define the specific projects that will be funded. Even so, the announcement has been framed as a significant opportunity for the Tay Cities Region to unlock its full innovation potential and reinforce its status as one of the UK’s most dynamic creative tech clusters. By investing in talent, research, and commercialization, the initiative aims to position the region for long-term economic growth while expanding the real-world applications of Scotland’s creative technology expertise.
