Closed call CoSTAR Evolve: Scale your Enterprise
CoSTAR Evolve: strengthening established UK creative technology companies.
Many UK creative technology businesses face a shortage of resources and access to expertise for business, product, and commercialisation strategic planning. This gap threatens their long-term sustainability and financial viability.
As a result, the overall strength of the UK’s creative economy is at risk, particularly when promising creative technology enterprises cannot overcome key business challenges due to insufficient support.
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 running from January to June 2026 will help 11 scaling enterprises address mission-critical business and market development needs, empowering them to achieve sustained growth and success.
Successful companies have been given access to over £15,000 in total support, industry experts, training and tailored mentorship, training in social impact with a focus on EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) and sustainability, and exposure to investors through pitch opportunities and actionable feedback from angels and investment networks
For information about this closed call read our Full call brief, Programme Obligations, Participant Agreement and our FAQs
Our Mentors are active industry professionals with hands-on experience in growing and scaling businesses. Their expertise spans commercial innovation, IP, creative technologies, technical development, EDI (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion), data and ethics, sales, marketing, and distribution.
Coming from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, mentors offer a broad range of insights, perspectives, and specialisms to support the evolving needs of creative technology companies. You can view the Evolve Mentor Pool of experts available to you in the biographies below.
We talk to CoSTAR Evolve mentor Robyn Winfield-Smith, Founding Director of Liminal Stage Productions and Theatre & Emerging Technologies Lead at Hat Trick Productions, about the impact of mentoring on her career and how she can help emerging creative companies harness their powers to scale up.
Robyn Winfield-Smith, one of Evolve's 24 mentors, talks about the impact of mentoring on her career.
