York to Lead Digital Creativity Centre

An £18 million Digital Creativity (DC) Hub to be developed at York University and set to accelerate research in digital games and interactive media, is one of six new multidisciplinary centres announced in the recent Budget, that will drive forward the UK’s Digital Economy research, knowledge and skills. The five-year investment plan for the network of centres at York, Swansea, Bath, Nottingham Newcastle and UCL worth a total of £45 million with partner contributions, will come via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and InnovateUK.

Hub Director Professor Peter Cowling, Department of Computer Science said: “The potential of the digital creativity is enormously exciting. We shall engage with partner organisations to develop proof-of-principle, market-led projects based both on current research and applied research shaped and undertaken with industry partners.”

Director Professor Marian Ursu, Department of Theatre Film and Television at York added: “We already have over 80 partners within the DC Hub, and we anticipate the partner base will grow to ensure we generate substantial economic, social and cultural impact.”

The DC Hub will employ 15 of the best impact-driven digital creativity  researchers in the world  at levels from Professorial to post-doctoral to transfer knowledge and expertise gained from the £90 million of investment in Digital Creativity Research at York and Falmouth University, Goldsmiths (University of London) and Cass Business School over the last 10 years.

The DC Hub partners range from large organisations such as the BBC and Aecom, many SMEs, including games companies such as Revolution Software and AI Factory, to charities such as Dyslexia Action  and New Visuality and networks and funding organisations such as Game Republic and Creative England.