The West Midlands is a UK leader in digital media. This is a vibrant sector which influences everybody’s lives, from leisure and lifestyle to business and communication. It includes television, animation, radio and digital imaging, with particular strengths in games production, serious games, film and music.
The region has a national and international profile in serious games accounting for 20% of UK Games production and has internationally recognised expertise in games, virtual reality and 3D imaging, based at Birmingham, Coventry & Warwick universities.
Birmingham has been recognised in the Billboard magazine as ‘one of the world’s top five music hotspots’.
The employment growth in digital media is at nearly double of the UK average with an expanding talent base in film and television production and a growing Interactive Media sector with high profile blue-chip clients.
Achievements
• The Serious Games Institute is a £7m investment at the Coventry’s Techno Centre, a national and international centre of excellence developing supply chains and the emerging SME network.
• Serious Virtual Worlds Conference is giving the West Midlands an international profile as a thought leader in this potentially huge new sector.
• The Film & Digital Media Fund is providing an initial £4m funding for feature films. Instrumental in bringing Faintheart (Film4) to the region, the first feature to be auditioned off MySpace.
• The Creative Hub at the Custard Factory supported the clustering and networking of over 300 creative businesses in Birmingham’s Eastside.
Target Markets 2008 - 11
The cluster will target three broad high growth markets:
• Digital Content for Entertainment, developing new business models, types of content and distribution across film, television, games, audio and music.
• Digital Lifestyle, innovating new forms of digital media and exploring uses for their application.
• Business Futures, expanding the scope of 2D & 3D gaming and virtual simulation into new markets.
The cluster will target these markets by launching three new programmes of activities:
• Screen Media, will build innovation, new supply chains, collaborations and skills development in the core sub-sectors of film, television, games and serious games.
• Audio & Music, will build networks, regional events and the application of emerging technologies in the area of sound, radio and music.
• Business Futures will develop our digital media companies so they can deliver innovative applications of Web 2.0 and beyond.
The cluster will also work to increase the influence of the sector regionally, nationally and internationally.