Funding on offer for firms able to overcome problems using power of data

Funding of up to £20,000 is on offer to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses able to help six Scottish organisations develop new datadriven services and products.

The organisations – including the National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh Science and the Children’s Parliament

– have been chosen to carry out projects as part of Creative Informatics, a research and development programme based in Edinburgh.

Funding is now available to individuals and businesses in the Edinburgh area who are able to work with the organisations to tackle the specific challenges.

National Theatre of Scotland’s challenge is to use production data from the last 14 years to map its touring activity and create a tool that will enable it to help plan future tours.

Edinburgh Science is looking for help to create a “fun, interactive experience” that encourages audiences to make a donation when attending events.

Other organisations taking part in the programme include Pianodrome, Vintage Vibes and The Big Light.

Chris Speed, director of creative informatics at the University of Edinburgh, said: “We hope that these projects will inspire other organisations working in the creative industries to think about obstacles they are facing that could make for challenge projects in the future.”

Creative Informatics is a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, Codebase and Creative Edinburgh.

Applications to take part in the challenges close on 28 September and those successful will be able to retain part or all of the intellectual property for their work, enabling them to commercialise any products or services they produce.