Digital Advisory Group to outline plan for growth of Scottish sector
The Scottish Digital Media Industry Advisory Group is to outline a plan for growth by the Scottish sector as it looks to reach revenues of £6.3billion by 2012.
The body, chaired by Stuart Cosgrove, director of nations and regions at Channel 4 will call for tax and fiscal benefits, afforded to other industries within the country, to be made available to Dundee’s video games sector next year.
The outline will include nine key recommendations to the strategy as it looks to build on the strengthening digital community in Scotland including companies based in Dundee such as Realtime Worlds and Rockstar North. Those recommendations 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.
Last week, it was announced that Abertay University in Dundee was to receive funding to assist the start-up of 20 new games development companies and support 30 existing enterprises as the University forecasts an increase to the Scottish games development industry's turnover by £3 million over the life of the three year project.