Brass' intellectual property and product development arm, Invent, has been appointed to the BBC @North initiative which encourages and supports the development and delivery of interactive content for CBBC and CBeebies.

A step towards realising the creative benefits that BBC North will deliver

Five agencies have been appointed to the first wave of activity which was announced today by Peter Salmon, Director, BBC North. The investment totals £270,000, representing over half the money earmarked for commissioning in the pilot of @North.

Peter Salmon, Director, BBC North said: "The investment announced today marks a significant step towards realising the creative benefits that BBC North will ultimately deliver working in partnership with locally-based creative companies.

The @North initiative has provided a valuable insight into how the BBC will work and engage with companies in the region to make the best content for audiences across the UK. I want to congratulate those companies whose ideas and creativity have been successful today and look forward to announcing the other companies in the forthcoming months."

"Our appointment is a great accolade for our Invent team who focuses on the creation of original software, products and content and specialise in this type of collaborative work. We're excited about the creative development of the @North project and really looking forward to working with the BBC team". Andrew Brown, Creative Director, Brass

" Our appointment is a great accolade for our Invent team who focuses on the creation of original software, products and content and specialise in this type of collaborative work".

A new model of how the BBC will engage with digital agencies

@North is a pilot project led by BBC Children's, involving multi-disciplinary teams from across different divisions of the BBC including Future Media and Technology (FM&T) working collaboratively. The project also represents a new model of how the BBC will engage with independent companies and digital agencies across the north of England as well as with the regional screen agencies - Northern Film and Media, Screen Yorkshire and Vision+Media.

"@North has been a new way of working for Children's and these companies have come up with some great ideas that will engage our young audiences and reflect how they consume content in the digital world" added Joe Godwin, Director, BBC Children's.

Numiko from Leeds, The Workshop from Sheffield, Amaze from Manchester and Th_nk from Newcastle have also been appointed.