Formally launching on 31 January 2013 with a public event at University of Glasgow, CREATe is the RCUK research centre for copyright and new business models in the creative economy.

Conceived as an academic initiative to enable UK cultural and creative industries to take a role in the global digital economy, the venture opens with a programme of 40 projects delivered by a team of academics representing law, cultural economics, management, computer science, sociology, psychology, ethnography and critical studies.

It aims to examine the business, regulatory and cultural infrastructure of the cultural and creative industries by exploring cutting-edge questions around digitisation, copyright and innovation in the arts and technology.

The inauguration is being followed by a one-day conference (1 February) for academics and stakeholders at The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture, in Glasgow. The conference will examine case studies of transition from analogue to digital (such as music and publishing) in contrast with cases in ‘born digital’ sectors (such as games or social media).

To coincide with the Launch, CREATe is publishing Working Paper No. 1: What Constitutes Evidence for Copyright Policy? This includes an innovative digital resource, offering complete proceedings of an ESRC Symposium with leading policy makers, social scientists and stakeholders.

CREATe is based at the University of Glasgow, leading a consortium of 7 Universities: the University of East Anglia, the University of Edinburgh, Goldsmiths (University of London), the University of Nottingham, the University of St. Andrews and the University of Strathclyde. It will be supported by £5m of funding over four years (2012-2016).

More: www.create.ac.uk