Yorkshire Forward digital boss sees bright future
Yorkshire Forward’s Stuart McFarlane, has said that Yorkshire’s digital businesses are coping well with the recession and he expects the majority to battle through the current conditions.
McFarlane’s words of encouragement come as Yorkshire Forward signs an exclusive three year deal that sees Holbeck Urban Village, Leeds Media and Marketing Leeds become headline partners of the UK-wide DADI Awards, under the banner of Leeds Live it Love it.
This week sees the call for entries to the DADI Awards, in association with Leeds Live It Love It, go out across the UK and the sponsorship deal will also see the DADIs become an integral part of Digital Week, a series of events held in Leeds during November. The DADI Awards 2009 will be the final gala event of Digital Week, when it takes place on Friday 13 November at the Royal Armouries in Leeds city centre.
The awards are also being sponsored by Screen Yorkshire, anCnoc and News International Newspapers Ltd.
The digital industries are rapidly becoming an increasingly important part of the Yorkshire economy. According to McFarlane, as of 2006, there were 96,500 people across Yorkshire working in some 13,900 digitally related businesses.
In addition to this the region has a freelance community of more than 19,700 freelance and self employed digital specialists, which could be bolstered by up to a further 10,000 digital freelancers, who are not currently VAT registered.
Figures show that in 2006 the digital sector was generating £5.2billion, with 4.6 percent of the region’s employment generating more than 7percent of the region’s economy.
Speaking of the digital sector in Yorkshire, McFarlane said: “I’ve been talking to digital businesses and trying to do a straw poll of how they’re doing. Out of the nearly 14,000 digital and new media businesses we have, 95% of those are micro, small or medium, which means they have fewer than 10 employees; the average is about five employees.
“Because they tend to be small and fairly lean, the information I’m getting is that at the moment they seem to be okay; they seem to be weathering the storm. I’m not aware of many redundancies that are happening within the sector – I think that’s because they’re fulfilling a lot of activity and they’re reliant on other people because it’s a service industry.
“At the moment they are fulfilling their order books and they are probably okay for the next three to six months. We’ll have to look at the situation as we come into the autumn.
“I think what we will see over the next year will be a plateau; but I still see a very optimistic future for this sector.
“Gordon Brown said in an interview with Andrew Marr in December that he felt that the UK could grow out of the recession by investing in the digital economy and the environmental economy. That was closely followed by the Digital Britain report that Lord Stephen Carter produced in January. That report talked about having good connectivity and excellent products and services available online. All those have to be produced and it’s this sector that will be doing that connectivity, providing that equipment and producing that content that goes onto these systems.
“So, that’s why I see things as optimistic. Money is being invested both at a national and a local level.”
Speaking of how the DADIs fit into Yorkshire Forward’s strategy, McFarlane added: “I think the DADI Awards represent the future of the industry. There are a few key drivers that are very synonymous with what this industry is about: innovation, creativity, and enterprise and entrepreneurship – and I think those few words are what the DADIs sums up.
“We’re looking for young, vibrant businesses and young, vibrant people who are really successful and use their creativity to develop new products and services which they deliver with innovative technology.”
Deadline for entries to the DADI Awards 2009 is 10 July. For more information and to enter online please visit the DADI Awards site.