Funding vs Investment: the 4iP low-down

[Ewan McIntosh]

When Channel 4 launched 4iP, its Innovation for the Public Fund, the last word brought along connotations that we were largely 'spending' money à la grant, when in fact most of our work is investing in sustainable digital media. It's a nuance explained well in a guest post on the 4iP blog by Jason Hall, Screen West Midlands' Digital Media Fund manager:
Even before we launched 4iP - back in the pre-launch briefing in July last year - we made it very clear that we are looking to support sustainable businesses. This is about investment, not funding.

This has absolutely been borne out by our investment decisions and selection process. One of the most common complaints we get from those who have been rejected is “my project fit all your criteria, so why didn’t you fund it?”. To my mind, this is a symptom of the culture of dependency and the ‘old school’ approach to funding projects. This is not about ticking boxes or designing projects that fit around our criteria. It’s about projects that are plugged in to new market opportunities and have a realistic chance of exploiting them but just need a boost to get there. 4iP/DMF is a catalyst, not a framework.

Read more on the 4iP blog...

Pic by me

[Nicola More]

Ewan that pic is going to give me nightmares!!