MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
This morning, the Prime Minister Theresa May, will announce proposals for a new industrial strategy, designed to ‘build on Britain’s strengths and tackle its underlying weaknesses’. It will allow businesses to strike new ‘Sector Deals’ to address their specific challenges and opportunities.
That means the games industry could request a range of support, such as ‘removing regulatory barriers to innovations and growth’, or looking at ‘how we can use trade and investment deals to increase exports’. The strategy is designed to drive growth across Britain, no doubt in response to the potential impacts of Brexit.
The announcement is based around 10 ‘ strategic pillars’. Which include investing in research and innovation, developing STEM skills, supporting startups and cultivating world-leading sectors, all of which is good news for the industry.
Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie, responded to the announcement.
Ukie has worked with government and the wider creative and digital sectors to call for a clear strategy for how we maintain our global competitiveness as a creative and innovative digital economy so we welcome this modern Industrial Strategy. The games industry offers a blueprint for growth across the creative and tech sectors, and we have worked hard to ensure the voice and needs of games and interactive businesses are front and centre of this.
We welcome the ten pillars set out by Theresa May which echo ourfive recommendations laid out in the 2015 Blueprint for Growth report, including investment in innovation, support for technical and creative skills, a focus on local opportunity and international trade, more routes to cultural funding, securing diversity and opportunity across the UK, and local institutions of support. These commitments will help futureproof our industry and the wider creative economy, but there is more work to be done. We need to continue to support the people that are at the heart of our future and who are making the products which are loved across the world.
We look forward to reading the detail contained in the Green Paper when it is published in full later today.”
The announcement comes as part of a package of financial incentives for businesses, which are mainly targeted towards Manchester and the north-west of England and amount to 556m.
