The Tay Cities Region has won £20 million of UK Government investment to turbocharge its local creative tech sector.

In a push to create jobs and boost the local economy, the funding, awarded as part of the competitive strand of the government’s Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, aims to give innovators across Angus, Dundee, Fife, and Perth & Kinross the chance to fast‑track their ideas and open up routes to further investment.

The funding package is also designed to back collaborative R&D projects and pull expert talent into the Region’s gaming sector, supporting everything from cutting‑edge design to emerging technologies like immersive VR, potentially opening the door for a new wave of high‑growth businesses.

“This is an investment in the skills and talent which have turned the Tay Cities Region into one of the UK’s most vibrant tech sectors,” said UK tech secretary Liz Kendall. 

“The region’s incredible creative industries are already leading the way when it comes to games development and breakthroughs in virtual reality. This funding will help take that expertise to the next level, helping to create jobs and growth in Dundee, Perth and beyond.”

The bid was led by Abertay University, which will now lead on delivering the programme, bringing expertise in gaming, virtual production and emerging technologies alongside industry partners, including 4J Studios, UK Games Talent and Finance, and CodeBase.

Other partners include Creative Scotland, the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and V&A Dundee, with the city forming an anchor for the Region’s creative cluster, having generated £353 million turnover in 2022.

“The Tay Cities Region is a hotbed of creativity, design-thinking and innovation and has forged a global reputation not just as the UK’s video games capital, but as an international hub for the tech sector,” said Professor Gregor White at Abertay University, director of the CoSTAR Realtime Lab at Dundee’s Water’s Edge.

“By aligning next-level and future-focused R&D with the existing strengths of the regional and national tech ecosystem, we have a generational opportunity to accelerate economic opportunities in the area and to create new companies, products and services that will have a real impact on people’s lives.”

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However, while the Tay Cities Region has been successful in securing funding, this is the sole Scottish allocation from the latest competitive strand of the LIP Fund.

Glasgow City Region was earmarked to receive its own £20 million boost as part of a previous strand, with funding targeting its health and life sciences sector in a bid to fuel the rise of more regional tech stars like Chemify.