The BBC is setting up a £500,000 fund for independent producers in the north of England to make interactive children's TV projects.

Peter Salmon, the director of BBC North, who is overseeing the move of several London-based broadcasting and production departments to the corporation's new Salford base, has ring-fenced £500,000 for independent digital companies in the north to pitch ideas for interactive children's TV.

The @North fund, the first of its kind to be established as the transfer from London to Salford gathers pace, is aiming to stimulate youthful versions of successes such as the Online Den, an interactive spin-off from Dragons' Den. Four projects will be accepted for production by CBBC and CBeebies, which move en bloc to the new north-west site in 2011.

Salmon told the Manchester Media Festival last night: "We have allocated the money. We have published the guidelines. We have given everyone a blank sheet of paper.

"Now it's up to creative teams from Newcastle to Crewe to blow us away with some fantastic ideas. The BBC can be the platform that shares the brilliant work already being done across the north with audiences throughout the UK."

Workshops will be held in January and February to help potential bidders for the four commissions, with final pitches expected in September.

Interested companies should contact the BBC project director, Mario Dubois, on mario.dubois@bbc.co.uk.

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