Step Change
Chain Gang
Moving up the Value Chain
Scotland’s long heritage of creative excellence and innovation is internationally recognised. This is a key asset, and the industry must work to ensure that this international reputation is leveraged to the benefit of the whole media sector.
Invention and innovation are not the same, Scotland has always produced world class creative talent and inventions but it has traditionally lacked capability in distribution, has a persistent supply chain gap and faces some significant strategic challenges.
Due to significant barriers to entry, and spectrum scarcity, distribution has historically been the preserve of large media companies, publishers and broadcasters. However, in a converged web 2.0 marketplace, there is real opportunity to move up the value chain by developing new interactive platforms with the potential for rapid international growth...click here to read more and download the strategy document.
Scotland’s digital media sector is dominated by very small companies and whilst this can have valuable competitive advantages, the lack of larger businesses is a strategic issue for the sector as a whole. In addition, while the supporting environment is generally strong, digital media companies are not always well connected to the sources of innovation and investment that can help the sector to move up the value chain...Links between the company base and research and technology expertise, particularly in the academic sector, are poor, and the uptake of traditional innovation support schemes is relatively low. Boosting innovation is crucial...click here to read more and download the strategy document.
The sector is also under capitalised and, in particular, there is a lack of specialist investors with knowledge of digital media markets. However, not enough digital media companies are ‘investor ready’ and this has a constraint on deal-flow and sector growth.Equity investment is necessary but in itself is not sufficient to catalyse sector growth. There is an accepted need for more project-based finance to meet the needs of start-up and early stage production companies.
New business planning methods, business models and routes to profitability are also opportunities for significant innovation.
Scotland faces intense international competition, and current levels of engagement in international markets by Scottish companies are variable. Scotland also has limited profile in media-related inward investment, and this affects the sector’s links to global supply chains. A number of key opportunities for growth can be found within the digital media sub-sectors...click here to read more and download the strategy document.
Finally, digital media has substantial potential to add value across a range of other sectors from digital design...click here to read more and download the strategy document.
The key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for Scotland’s digital media industry are summarised as follows:
Scotland the SWOT
Scotland must engage with these challenges and ensure maximum impact for its investments. What is clear about the Scottish digital media sector in 2010 is that companies are emerging in virtually every area of interactive technology and creative platform activity. There is a real strength in this diversity, and there is recurring evidence of a nation pursuing value in innovation, by exploiting platform development more aggressively and by finding new ways of taking services, products and experiences to global audiences and customers.
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38 minutes
Creative Boom
The Drum
Games Industry
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