The UK Games Fund is reaching out to individuals, industry and academia to support the creation of a significant new talent development programme.

“Much of the sector hasn’t realised yet that we’re not just about providing grant funding” explains Paul Durrant, who founded the Community Interest Company that runs the fund.

“The UK Games Fund is just one part of a series of projects designed to boost the UK’s games development sector. With our first round of funding now closed we’re turning our attention to a major new talent support project.”

The new project is designed to help improve the way that talented individuals and teams can collaborate and create new and innovative games IPs and use the experience to:

• showcase their talent,
• learn about the creative business process and
• use the project as a key part of their portfolio for either employment or self-enterprise routes.

The fund is looking for organisations to volunteer to support the UK Games Talent project in mentoring roles (supporting the developer talent base across the UK), as talent developer hubs (where applicants to the UK Games Talent contests could be housed) and as reviewers of applications to receive support from the UK Games Talent project.

Deborah Farley, UKGTF Head of Talent and Outreach, said, “There has already been a high level of interest in our talent offering and we are looking forward to connecting with the developer community across the UK to deliver a highly anticipated programme. This is a fantastic opportunity to engage with universities, students and industry bodies to cultivate and showcase the high levels of games development talent we have in the UK.

With access to a wide network of talented start ups and SMEs across the UK thanks to the UK Games Fund, we can help professional development by providing standardisation of real-world learning routes for talented teams, by directing our supporters and funded companies to help young, talented teams, by becoming a trusted entity to manage IP on behalf of the creators through smart contracts and by providing grant funding for teams and organising showcase events and opportunities.”

More details can be found at www.ukgamesfund.com
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