A mixed bag week

Screen West Midlands have had the foresight to launch a new Advantage Development Fund for digital media companies. The basic idea - if there are great digital media ideas in the West Midlands, support them with seed capital to help them grow. If they work, they recoup the investment once they reach market. If they don't, then there's no personal risk for the companies trying to push the boundaries. To cut a long story short I sat down for several days writing a 50 page document, polishing up a prototype of something I've been working on for about a year, and filling out about another 50 pages of application forms. It's in their hands now - I'll report back if there's any news.

3form are one of forty companies that have won £3,000 to spend against 'innovation' (read R&D) on a new product, service or idea through Aston Business School's INDEX scheme. The idea being to get small companies to buy the services of an academic to do something interesting and cutting edge. It's early days, but in my original pitch I put in some time to work with Paul Bradshaw on a huge idea that we've been cooking up. Who knows where this one will lead - it could even hook in to the ADF thing.

I've been asked to work on the web production for a nice new range of ethical, organic baby products launching in April. And we're currently putting together a site for an historical documentary film company called Archive TV.