4iP is, importantly, a partnership between C4, public bodies such as NI Screen, Scottish Screen, Scottish Enterprise, Screen West Midlands etc… and, VITALLY, the indie and startup scene. The creation of projects is not for some self-improvement course for 4iP staffers or even C4. It’s not about C4 gaining tons of intellectual property – au contraire. It’s linked strongly to developing newer areas of the creative economies that, thus far, we haven’t had a role in developing. In Scotland, the aggregation of a rather disparate creative sector is already an achievement. This serves the industry as much as it serves 4iP.

4iP not only brings expertise in how one part of the creative economy can be partnered up with another for greater effect, but we also bring money at a level where there is currently a market failure for cross-platform projects (development). We will be going for some of the things you look at as ‘low hanging fruit’ because, frankly, they’ve not been done very well so far (or at all with a public service goal in mind, bar World Without Oil) or have been done with weird aims in mind (Macdonalds paying for an Olympics ARG?!) We’ll always be trying to stick by our values, though:
DO IT FIRST, inspire change and make trouble.

Looking forward to seeing the role of Northern Irish producers, coders and artists in achieving something different.