The strategy document, ‘Digital Inspiration’, is the first of its kind to be unveiled for Scotland’s digital media sector. The chair of Scotland’s Digital Media Industry Advisory Group, Stuart Cosgrove, who is also director of Nations and Regions for Channel 4, commented, “Many of the simple things we do every day are being transformed by digital technologies – from online news and digital photography, to music downloads, multiplatform television and social networking.
“These markets offer huge potential for Scotland and we want to ensure that our companies are able to act on these opportunities. To achieve a step-change in Scotland’s global reputation in digital media, we need to increase the number of companies, encourage them to leverage, own and exploit the platforms on which they operate, and extract more value from intellectual property rights.”
The key recommendations within the strategy are:
* Increase both the number and scale of digital media companies
* A national drive to increase the volume and value of innovative digital media platforms owned or managed from Scotland
* A greater and more profitable role for Scottish companies in the chain of distribution and interactivity
* A more sophisticated understanding of the value to be derived from digital media as a growing and evolving business sector
* A greater commitment to improving the performance of companies in the creative ‘value-chain’
* Much more profitable leverage of intellectual property rights
* Launch a pilot programme of tax and fiscal benefits to support the Dundee games sector in 2010 to increase its global competitiveness
* Generate greater investor awareness of digital media as a growth sector and greater investor readiness on the part of emergent companies
* Cultivate a more ambitious national culture of acquisition, allowing Scottish companies to buy and not always be bought.
The vision of the Digital Media Industry Advisory Group is to create a high growth, world class cluster of content, platform and technology providers, developing and distributing innovative digital content and technologies to global markets.
Achieving this vision will require commitment and investment from businesses, academia, government and the public sector in five critical areas for development: innovation, interactive distribution platforms, internationalisation, investment and infrastructure.
Terry Hurley, senior director of Digital Media and Enabling Technologies at Scottish Enterprise, said, “I would like to thank the Digital Media Industry Advisory Group for their tremendous work in producing this strategy, that sets out both the opportunities in this exciting sector and the priority areas for action. The website, www.digitalinspiration.org.uk, is also very welcome as it will encourage greater engagement and deepen the debate about how the sector can grow.
“This debate is extremely important for Scottish Enterprise, other public sector organisations and industry, to inform how we can support the sector to achieve its growth potential, and ultimately result in Scotland’s economic growth."
To view the full strategy document and engage in discussions on the issues raised, visit www.digitalinspiration.org.uk.
