As strategic consultants for Create Central and the West Midlands Combined Authority, Marie Foulston and I led the Co-Lab initiative—a comprehensive program designed to strengthen the region’s creative economy and foster innovation across the creative industries.
Key Achievements
- Broad Support for the Creative Industries: We supported over 150 creative businesses across the West Midlands, spanning diverse sectors including film & TV production, videogames, animation, robotics, theater, audio, and augmented reality
- Personalized Consultations: Delivered in-depth 1:1 advisory sessions for 23 companies, providing tailored guidance on business strategy, marketing, R&D development, funding applications, business partnerships, and more
- Skills Development: Led and produced specialized workshops throughout the West Midlands, focusing on critical areas such as business partnerships, grant funding applications, and research & development strategies
Program Outcomes
The program successfully equipped participating businesses with the knowledge, connections, and strategic guidance needed to pursue innovation funding and sustainable growth opportunities. Many participants progressed to submit formal bids to Innovate UK, strengthening the region’s position as a hub for creative innovation.
Long-Term Impact
Co-Lab served as the successful pilot for a UKRI Creative Cluster bid, which ultimately secured an additional £6 million in funding for the West Midlands creative sector. This major achievement ensures continued support for regional creative businesses.
Client Testimonials
“The Co-Lab initiative was a vital programme designed to support creative companies in exploring and developing their research and development ambitions. Throughout the course of the project, your expertise, energy and professionalism have played a pivotal role in the success and impact of the initiative.
You were able to deliver a high-quality programme of workshops—tailored to the needs of R&D in the creative industries—ensuring that each participating company gained meaningful insights and tangible value. Moreover, the one-to-one mentoring and facilitated meetings you arranged were instrumental in enabling deeper engagement, strategic thinking, and bespoke support for each of the participating businesses.
Feedback from the companies involved has been very positive, with many moving forward to submit a bid to innovate UK – I would be more than happy to recommend you to lead future programmes of this nature and would welcome the opportunity to collaborate again.”
“It was amazing. Sarah was a wealth of information, great advice and a personal connection that I wasn’t expecting. I came out of the meeting with a sense of direction and what can be achieved, and reaffirmation that the steps I was taking where the best steps forward. With the additional advice and resources shared with me, I feel ready to pursue my career with my studio and move onwards. I will highly recommend time with CoLab to all within my network. Thank you again.”
“Sarah was really friendly and approachable. I felt like I could ask questions without feeling silly and she was so informative and encouraging. I really benefited from our chat!”