Five Eyes
Infrastructure
In order to grow it is essential to develop innovative, internationally ambitious and investable businesses. However, this is necessary but not sufficient. For Scotland to flourish as a world class centre for digital media there must be a strongly integrated and supportive business environment to nurture talent and support the growth of smart companies.
Paradoxically, place matters in the digital economy. Concentrations of talented people and institutions support the generation and exchange of new ideas and innovative processes. It is also increasingly apparent that talent is attracted to places that offer both professional opportunity and a high quality of life...
..Richard Florida, one of the most respected academics in the field of ‘creative cities’ has identified Glas-burgh as one of a number of thriving European mega-regions. These are typically cities situated near each other which can draw and capitalise on their mutual strengths...
...Disputes or false wars between Scottish cities are a diversion, a waste of time and counter-productive. The competition is increasingly Vancouver, Palo Alto and Bangalore. Grudges against London or ambitions that only stretch the length of the M8 seem like relics from a previous media era. Click here to read more and download the strategy document.
Physical Infrastructure
Growing companies need a suitable infrastructure to support their growth. This is both for flexible business accommodation, and for transport and telecommunications infrastructure...Click eher to read more and download the strategy document.
Education and Skills InfrastructurePotentially more than any sector, the digital media industry is built on the creativity, expertise and reputation of its people. The ability to attract and retain key talent is essential in developing critical mass and supporting ongoing innovation and growth. Click here to read more and download the strategy document.
Business NetworksNetworking and collaboration are integral to the newways of working exemplified by the digital media industry. Scotland must build and support the capacity for social capital to flourish and exploit real value. Networking in this sector is not just a ‘nice to have’ – it permeates and supports
delivery...click here to read more and download the strategy document.
Economic Geography
Dundee is changing and innovating for Scotland. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, has identified centres like Dundee as indicative of a new kind of ‘economic geography’ where creative wealth is being created in new or surprising centres. Dundee’s journey from post-industrial urban decline towards a knowledge based and vibrant economy is one in which the digital media sector has both played a key role and benefitted.
Alongside massive improvements in the public realm, the growth of higher education and a vibrant cultural infrastructure, the global success of Dundee’s games developers has helped to boost the city’s image and put it on the global media map. The city has not only reinvented itself, it has a significant reputation in games development in the UK and internationally. But competitor-regions particularly in Canada and France benefit from tax relief. This is a real and present threat to Dundee and needs to be addressed rather than merely acknowledged.
Grand Theft Auto originated in Dundee, and the city remains home to a thriving cluster of games developers, supported by the University of Abertay’s world renowned digital media courses. The global reputation of Dundee’s talented games developers and its leading higher education institutions has contributed significantly to an increasingly positive image. In an internationally competitive talent market, it is essential that Scotland can promote its key cities as vibrant,
culturally diverse and appealing places to live and work. Place is a crucial part of the mix.
Designed and built by
