Call OpenCoSTAR AI for Creativity Pilot Call

This CoSTAR call is looking for applications from companies on their journey to AI adoption, who have real-world creative R&D projects in need of support. We will be looking for projects which represent strong innovation opportunities for companies, as well as act as examples of best practice for the wider industry.

This call is part of the CoSTAR AI for Creativity initiative, and is being supported by the CoSTAR National Lab, Live Lab, Screen Lab and Realtime Lab. A total of £400,000 is available, and we are looking to support up to 16 companies, who can apply for up to £25,000 each alongside compute infrastructure, and world-leading industry and research expertise from across the CoSTAR Network.

Companies may be working on different types of AI development, including both ‘traditional’ (non-generative) AI as well as generative AI applications within the creative industries. Applicants will need to be able to demonstrate a clear rationale for how their R&D projects could lead to commercial opportunities for their business.

Cash funding: a total of £400,000 of cash funding is available to support 16 projects, with up to £25,000 per project. The funding is available to contribute to costs in undertaking the project, such as contracting performers, interaction design, editing, developers, consumables, travel etc. Please note this funding is subject to subsidy control measures (see supporting call documentation for details).

AI compute facilities: The CoSTAR Network offers compute infrastructure that is purpose-built to support training and prototyping of advanced AI systems, while also enabling research and development across academia, startups, and creative industry partners. The specifications of our facility can be found here. Companies taking part in this programme will be given access to up to 800 H200 GPU hours, with up to 4 GPUs running simultaneously. Each company will also have access to up to 5TB of storage. This facility can be accessed remotely by companies across the UK.

Studio equipment and facilities: if required, companies can also access up to one week at a CoSTAR studio facility at one of our locations in the UK. This includes on-boarding and orientation on the required equipment by our technical and studio teams. 

• View CoSTAR National Lab facilities here (located at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire)
• View CoSTAR Screen Lab facilities here (located at Studio Ulster, Belfast)
• View CoSTAR Live Lab facilities here (located at Production Park, Wakefield)
• View CoSTAR Realtime Lab facilities here (located at Water’s Edge, Dundee)

Support and Research Expertise: 

• All companies will receive general onboarding support for the compute facility, for their lead developer(s). This will include pointers for best practice, sustainability and inclusion considerations. This support will be provided by the CoSTAR National Lab, where the main compute cluster is based.
• All companies will also be matched up with one of the CoSTAR Labs from across the network, whose expertise best aligns with their area of work. Staff and researchers at this Lab will guide and collaborate with you during the project, providing up to 8 days of ad-hoc support over the project’s total duration. Please see description of this expertise below.
• All companies will be invited to a networking event for the whole cohort of companies taking part in this initiative.

This call is looking for applications from UK-based creative or technology focussed companies. This might include those working in film and TV development, animation, visual effects, post-production, games, digital content creation, live performance and audio production, as well as those working in new forms of media and emerging technology.

To see some examples of previous companies who have secured access to CoSTAR support for their R&D projects, please see here.

Companies may be working on different types of AI development. This includes both ‘traditional’ (non-generative) AI as well as generative AI applications. Activities may include AI model training, model fine-tuning (adaptation), or model use (inference) for a variety of applications. As part of your application, you will be asked to provide more detail on this so that we may determine how best to support your project. 

Applicants need to be able to demonstrate a clear rationale for how their R&D projects could lead to commercial opportunities for their business (for example, through generation of technical or creative IP, or helping to unlock new markets). Applicants must also demonstrate why the CoSTAR support package on offer that includes access to technical infrastructure and research expertise is needed to unlock these opportunities.

These projects will also help the CoSTAR Network to trial, test and showcase new ways of supporting R&D in the creative industries. The projects selected through this call are expected to deliver tangible outputs. These may be early-stage prototypes or proof-of-concept demonstrations, or later stage product developments that leverage the CoSTAR Network’s advanced infrastructure.

The CoSTAR compute facility offers:

• 100 NVIDIA H200 GPUs, with 141 TB of total GPU memory
• 650TB of ultra-fast NVMe storage, optimised for AI workloads
• High-speed interconnects (400Gb InfiniBand) for large-scale, multi-node training

The CoSTAR Labs taking part in this call are the National Lab, Screen Lab, Live Lab and Realtime Lab. Each of the Labs in the CoSTAR Network have a sector focus, which you can read more about on their individual pages, linked above. Labs also have a range of specialisms in AI, which can be found in the support documentation for this call.

If you feel your project closely aligns with one of these specialisms and/or you feel you would benefit from support and expertise in one of these areas, please make this clear in your application form. A document detailing each labs AI expertise is included within the essential documents section of this page.

Companies will be asked at application stage if they have a preference for which Lab they would like to work with. We will endeavour to accommodate your preference, however, please note that depending on capacity and available expertise you may be matched with another Lab.

Table of expertise by CoSTAR Lab

The CoSTAR Labs have a range of specialisms in AI - please see the Details of AI expertise by lab for more information.

• Opening Date for Applications: 2 November 2026 13:00 GMT
• Closing Date for Applications: 13 January 2027 13:00 GMT
• Application Outcome: Applicants will be informed in writing of the outcome within 10 weeks of the closing date
• Project Start and Duration: Projects must begin after 1 May 2027 and end no later than 31 December 2027

Essential documents and information to support your application.

Applicant Guidance

Budget

Budget Guidance

Budget Template walkthrough

Project Plan

Summary of Terms

Application Questions

Details of AI Expertise by Lab