Ulster buzzes around Honeypot

Ulster University has launched a £240,000 seed fund focused on the digital content sector. Dubbed Honeypot, it is part of the larger Honeycomb – Creative Works initiative, worth £3.58m ($6m).

The seed fund will provide funding for startups located in Northern Ireland, in one of the six border counties of Ireland, and western Scotland. The fund will specifically look at early-stage companies and individuals with a high potential in the sub-sectors of animation, film and broadcasting, computer gaming, interactive media and music technologies.

The fund will provide individual awards of up to £2,500 ($4,200) to pre-proof-of-concept ideas, up to £5,000 ($8,400) for later stage proof-of-concept projects and up to £15,000 ($25,000) for trans-disciplinary projects.

The three regions targeted by Honeypot are due to the rules of Honeycomb – Creative Works. The skills and business development programme, largely funded by the European Union, is part of the EU’s Interreg IVA programme, and targets these geographical areas. The Special EU Programmes Body provided €192m ($256m) to the programme, with a further €64m ($85m) by national authorities.

Fiona McElroy, creative enterprise manager at Ulster University’s Office of Innovation said: “Northern Ireland is becoming renowned for innovation in the creative sectors and the university is committed to nurturing talent and playing a key role in helping the sector flourish through education and research. The wider Honeycomb initiative couples skills training and market development to enhance the capability of the sector. It is helping to cement Northern Ireland’s reputation as a leader in the creative industries, allowing local companies to compete on a global scale and potentially create new jobs. The new Honeypot seed fund is all about further encouraging and enabling innovation through cross-regional co-operation and is open to anyone from an individual to larger small and medium-sized enterprises.”