Liberal Democrats Party Conference: Cultural value - creative industries in a digital world

Date: 20.09.2011 13:00 - 14:00

Location: Jurys Inn Birmingham Hotel, 245 Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2HQ

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Our event on 'Cultural value: creative industries in a digital world' prompted an extremely lively debate with contributions from the public and private sectors.  Hosted by Jon Kingsbury, NESTA's Creative Industries Programme Director, our first speaker was Charles Cecil of Revolution Software, a UK company responsible for producing some of the most popular and successful computer games in the world.

Charles very much views the mixture of creative and technical skills required to be successful in his industry that are available in the UK as a real UK success story.  At the inception of the industry, Charles saw the UK industry as pioneering a new art form and is proud that many of the games Revolution and other companies have produced are original and British.

The 'cottage industry' that the video game industry started out as, inevitably attracted big business to handle publication and distribution of products.  However, the developments in digital technology and access have meant that the industry could take back control of its products and go straight to customers.  According to Charles, the 21^st Century is about a blend of artistic and technical skills for an industry that is fuelled by creativity and is hungry for new ideas.

Brian Gambles from Birmingham City Council has responsibility for Culture, and is working on the upgrade to Birmingham Library, started his contribution by reinforcing how important the creative sector is to Birmingham in terms of employment and the economy.  He described the investment in the new library as a 'game changer' in the livability of the city as it brings original content to the table by attempting to forge partnerships with the creative industries to increase access to a unique set of resources.

His ambition is to make the library the most visited cultural institution in the UK outside of London.  Brian outlined the three strands to his project:

• Delivery strategy has to be based on partnership, including with SMEs and digital companies
• Digital success will mean physical success as it means that content has been activated and is accessible
• Cultural content has commercial value - finding a solution to maximizing this value his key

Brian warned that there was a skills shortage in the sector that had to be addressed across the board and not just in terms of graduate roles.

Don Foster MP, was grateful to hear Brian's contribution as he values the input of local government and the difference it can make in adding cultural value to people's lives.  He was also keen to point out that, with appropriate support from the government, the creative industries could be a real driver in economic growth.

Don listed skills development as being of particular concern.  Although he feels the government's apprenticeships programme was a positive one, he acknowledges that it is often difficult for SMEs to take advantage of this.  He voiced concern that the curriculum review would not take account of creative or innovative subjects, and neither would the English Baccalaureate. 

There was a lively debate from the floor and all of our panelists fielded a range of questions.  The audience were curious about how easy it had been for Brian and his colleagues to build partnerships.  Brian's response was that it hadn't been easy and had taken at least two years of work.  Essentially, he had thrown out the challenge to business to develop monetizing solutions for the use of content that would also allow for increased accessibility.

In response to questions about the skills gap, Charles answered that children enjoying education and being encouraged to discover and explore new ideas was just as important as training them to pass exams.  He also supports the idea of mainstreaming creativity throughout education.

There was a suggestion that NESTA should fund a digital academy to facilitate the use of digital technologies amongst local authorities to which Jon Kingsbury was able to talk about the recent NESTA Make it Local project that increased accessibility to datasets held by local authorities.

Frustrations were voiced that there is a struggle to reconcile access and engagement with monetization and issues around copyright.  The response from the panel was that the tension does indeed exist but that with improved debate on the subject, that tension can be alleviated and a compromise reached.

The challenges that digital access, take up of broadband and attitudes to digital copyright raise all require businesses to be creative with their business models.  Charles Cecil relishes that challenge.

Access to finance for the development of creative industries businesses can be difficult as traditional lenders often do not understand the risks and opportunities involved so have no accurate information on which to make an informed decision.