Our support for Media Cymru Seed Fund projects
Once again we’re working through Media Cymru to help a group of creative projects to get their first experience of R&D and Innovation. This is the last round of Seed Fund projects to be supported under the Media Cymru Project.
Our role
The newly funded projects will run between February and June 2025. As with other schemes, they will receive support and guidance from Media Cymru partners, The Alacrity Foundation and us at PDR. Our team will use our design expertise to help provide a user-centred approach to the projects’ R&D.
Jo Ward, Senior Design Researcher, had the following to say:
"2025 is off to a great start as these Seed projects have already completed an action-packed Ideas Lab with us and taken that energy through to hit the ground running on their own projects. It’s the third and final round of Seed project support from us for Media Cymru and I am so excited to see where they take their research with the design-led approach offered by Siena and Iona. We once again have a mix of areas in Creative Industries being explored, with ideas from process to product, and we can already see some exciting opportunities for conversation and collaboration amongst the cohort, the Innovation Pipeline and with our wider network."
Media Cymru is a programme funded by UKRI and a consortium including Cardiff Capital Region, the Welsh Government as well as universities and industry partners. Its aim is to turn the Cardiff Capital Region into a global hub for media innovation with a focus on green and fair economic growth.
It has recently announced the participants of its third and final Seed Fund cohort, one of its flagship funding offers. This latest funding has seen almost £140,000 invested into 14 companies and freelancers to develop innovative research and development (R&D) projects in the media sector.
The funding was awarded to projects covering interactive storytelling through virtual production (VP) and augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), placemaking and tourism, bilingual broadcasting and gaming.
The funded 2025 Seed Fund projects are:
Bright Branch Media ltd: Footage Finder – Dynamic and searchable moving archive library for Filmmakers populated by filmmakers
Eliot Gibbins: Cheaper, greener 3D Scanning for On-Set VFX in Film and Television in Wales
Solitaire.io: Immersive storytelling via AR infused Playing Cards
Hangry Animals Ltd: Collaborative Gameplay for Social Impact
João Saramago: Symphonasia
Lily Pad Films Ltd: Cysylltu: Welsh Connections
Mathew David: Exploring the Needs of Working-Class Creatives: A Pathway to Innovation and Inclusion in Wales
Ruth Lloyd: Brycheiniog Digital Biennale
ScreenTales: Accessible Ambisonic Audio Maps (AAM’s) using Virtual Reality Audio (VRA)
Stephen Banbury: BeOne
Sudd: Radio Sudd: R&D for Wales’ First Bilingual Internet Radio Station
Sullie Burgess: Sullie Burgess
Tom Mummford: Revolutionising Voiceover: Adapting and thriving with AI for Future Success
Yeti: Body Positive AI
Read more about our work with Media Cymru here.