CoSTAR Evolve is dedicated to strengthening the business development and commercial innovation capabilities of high-value UK creative technology companies.   

This intensive six-month programme is designed to help 10 scaling enterprises address mission-critical business and market development needs, empowering them to achieve sustained growth and success. 

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Workshop Overview 

CoSTAR National Lab is hosting a two-day social impact and sustainability design sprint, bringing creative organisations together to focus on unlocking the potential of each business to meet their sustainability and social impact goals. 

This two-day workshop, in person in central London, will guide you through a creative and collaborative process to work together to agree clear and tangible action plans to unlock your businesses’ sustainability and social impact goals.  

Who is the workshop for? 

To ensure you get the most out of the experience, we are looking for creative organisations who are already working towards social impact and sustainability goals and are keen to unblock and accelerate progress, deepen their impact, and make clear plans for the next 3-12 months. 

You will need to be available in late-October for two full days in person in central London and to complete a small amount of pre-work in advance of the sprint. 

An Access Bursary is available to support participation, in line with our Social Impact Plan, for eligible individuals who may face additional barriers to participation. More information can be found here https://www.costarnetwork.co.uk/bursaries

Tips on using Submittable:

• You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date. There is an autosave feature, but you can also manually save your draft by clicking the button at the bottom of the form.
• Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
• We will follow up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to safelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.

Technical Questions?

Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support.

Workshop Overview 

This practical hands-on workshop, in partnership with Considered Capital, will provide creative enterprises with fundraising knowledge and support for purpose-driven businesses raising mission-aligned funding in the UK and Europe.  Creative technology enterprises today are placing building social impact at the heart of how they innovate, develop IP and build businesses.  This opens new markets, new end users and audiences and new funding and finance opportunities.  But it can be a complex and new area for many businesses.  This two-day workshop will help you understand finance and funding choices, deep dive into alternative forms and come away with a roadmap and a plan of action. 

Who is the workshop for? 

This workshop is for creative enterprises looking to raise money for your purpose led startup plan out your next funding steps 

Workshop Format 

One full day in person and one day virtual- a blend of lecture, guided discussion and  panels with external speakers where participants can learn new concepts and apply them through interactive exercises.

Tips on using Submittable:

• You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date. There is an autosave feature, but you can also manually save your draft by clicking the button at the bottom of the form.
• Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
• We will follow up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to safelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.

Technical Questions?

Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support. 

Date: Wednesday 22nd October 2025  

Time: 09.30-16.30  

Location: Futures Studio, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey 

Workshop Overview 

The CoSTAR National Lab is inviting up to 15 UK-based creative industries SMEs to take part in a one-day workshop on uses of AI for film and digital content production.This event will dive into the CoSTAR National Lab’s latest research into AI video production pipelines, and how these might be applied in different creative use cases. The day will feature a combination of presentations, hands on technology demonstrations, and collaborative knowledge sharing and idea generation activities. 

 Sessions will include an early preview of the CoSTAR National Lab’s research into open-sourceAI-powered production workflows, and applications of AI-enabled image and video content. Specific focal points include:

• Training of generative AI models for creating a digital likeness of a character 
• Driving motion of AI characters from live actor performances 
• Dressing characters using AI supported costume design techniques 
• Challenges and opportunities with respect to legal and ethical considerations and inclusive representation in this space  

The workshop is designed to help companies explore how these developments might be relevant totheir creative R&D projects, for experimental trials within production environments, or novel digital content creation opportunities. Feedback from industry gathered on the day will also help inform the development of future opportunities to be rolled out by the CoSTAR National Lab. 

Who is the workshop for?
 

• UK-based creative, production or technology focussed SMEs operating in the Screen Sector. This might include those working in film and TV development, animation, visual effects, post-production, pre-visualisation, or digital content creation, as well as those working in new forms of media and emerging technology.
• Attendees do not need to be AI specialists. Some prior experience of exploration of AI and/or working on emerging technology-focussed R&D projects may be beneficial but is not required. 
• Companies will be selected for the workshop based on their strategic alignment with this opportunity, and their potential to benefit from the workshop and take forward some of the outputs into practical opportunities going forward. 
• Up to two people from each company are invited to attend the workshop. Ideally these attendees would represent a combination of creative, business and technical interests. 
• All are welcomed to take part regardless of age, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, socio-economic background, (dis)ability (visible or hidden, physical or mental), sexuality, religion or belief.  
• We strongly encourage applications from businesses led by those from diverse backgrounds and those currently under-represented in the creative technology sector. 

 This is an initiative led by the CoSTAR National Lab as part of the Prototypes and Pilots Programme. 

Tips on using Submittable:

• You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date. There is an autosave feature, but you can also manually save your draft by clicking the button at the bottom of the form.
• Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
• We will follow up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to safelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.

Technical Questions?

Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support. 

CoSTAR Originate is a pioneering online enterprise taster programme, specially devised for early career researchers focussed on screen and performance technologies in the CoSTAR Network. 

Led by expert innovation design and business design consultant, Dr Gill Wildman, Founder of Upstarter Incubator and Plot, CoSTAR Originate will build business knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship over 4 x weekly 2.5 hr sessions on 11, 18, 25 November and 2 December 2025.  

Through a combination of tutor-led discussions, industry speaker presentations and current case studies, engaging workshop exercises and peer to peer learning and support, participants will learn about research in a creative business context, classic entrepreneur and creative R&D journeys, and the language and values of business as well as business for purpose, ‘not for profit’ and social purpose. 

Participants will learn how to: 

• Identify value and potential applications in research
• Plot a journey for an idea 
• Identify collaboration and engagement practices 
• Know the main elements of identifying and protecting IP 
• Articulate a value proposition for research 
• Speak with industry professionals with confidence