University news

The CREATe Centre at the University of Glasgow has published a report that demonstrates the importance of long-term thinking about the laws and regulation that shape the creative and cultural economy.

‘Law for a Creative Future’ is CREATe’s interim report for the years 2023-2025. It is grounded in CREATe’s ambition to increase and sustain state-of-the-art knowledge of the laws that shape creativity, technology, and markets.

The report sets out CREATe’s new position, following its successful application for core funding from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council. This was established from October 2023, ensuring seamless continuity from CREATe’s role in the (also AHRC-funded) Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre.

In addition to the new five-year AHRC award of £1.1m, CREATe received generous matched commitments from its host, the University of Glasgow.

The report outlines the five-year programme with three pillars: policy and stakeholder engagement; capacity building; and digital tools and resources.

Creative Industries Sector Champion and AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith said: "CREATe’s Interim Report demonstrates the importance of long-term thinking about the laws and regulation that shape the creative and cultural economy, and how this is crucial for the innovative creative firms and researchers that drive the sector’s success.

"Law for a Creative Future evidences the exceptional range of interdisciplinary activities and the importance of intellectual property, competition, information and technology law to UKRI’s R&D strategy for the creative and cultural economy."

Martin Kretschmer is Professor of Intellectual Property Law in the School of Law, University of Glasgow, and Director of CREATe. He said: "The laws of the digital space are in flux and contested. From Online safety to Dominant platforms, from AI training to Digital replicas, the interface between rules is complex, while the effects are widely felt across culture, science and society.

"With core funding from the AHRC, the CREATe Centre at the University of Glasgow has developed globally unique expertise across the laws and regulations that shape cultural and creative production and consumption. Established in 2012, the Centre has become an indispensable and trusted source of independent evidence."

Professor Sara Carter (Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow) said: "CREATe’s status as UK research infrastructure focuses on capacity building and independent evidence for the creative economy. In the highly contested field of AI regulation, CREATe offers a trusted voice, reflected in invitations to give evidence to Parliament and citations in recent Policy Reports by the Departments for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as well as the House of Lords Communications Select Committee inquiry on AI and copyright.

"We welcome CREATe’s interim report Law for a Creative Future. It is an important documentation of research achievement."

The CREATe Centre at the University of Glasgow has been hosted since 2012 by the School of Law in the College of Social Sciences as a national funded centre of excellence (co-located since 2022 in the University’s flagship Advanced Research Centre, ARC).

With core funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as UK research infrastructure, CREATe continues to offer world leading expertise and resources across the contested field of digital regulation.

CREATe’s interim report for the current funding period, demonstrates how intellectual property, competition, information and technology law shape – and are shaped by – cultural and creative production and consumption. Independent evidence on digital platforms and emerging technologies, such as AI, is needed more than ever.

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First published: 27 April 2026