Finding openings fortalent

Jan 8 2008 by Sarah Judd, Evening Gazette

A REPORT commissioned by Culture NorthEast, part of the regional development authority, revealed that commercial creative industries, made up of 2,200 businesses, are worth £800m to the region’s economy. Together, they employ 30,000 people - as many as chemical giant ICI supported in its heyday.

But the lack of a major media content buyer in the region means ONE is having to work hard to sell the sector to the rest of the UK. That task will be given a major boost early this year with the opening of Teesside University’s £12m Institute of Digital Innovation (IDI), part of whose remit is to promote Tees Valley companies to potential investors.

By fusing seasoned professionals from the industry with new businesses, academics, students and graduates, it will help release the creative block and drive forward the DigitalCity initiative, which supports new and growing businesses in digital media and technology.

Dr Jim TerKeurst, director of the IDI said: “Some of the examples from here demonstrate how people with creative ideas are working with the likes of scientists and digital specialists to come up with new products.

“We now have over 100 businesses operating under the university umbrella and we are in a really good position to bring experts together with those to help generate this new cluster on Teesside.”

Getting them is one thing; keeping them another.

According to ONE, many sub-sectors of the creative industries are too small and underdeveloped to retain large numbers of new graduates, so in an attempt to stem the flow, Codeworks Connect and GameHorizon gives students and graduates the opportunity to benefit from an industry-based digital placement project.

The scheme provides a subsidy to host SMEs - up to £6,000 for a 12-month placement - which is reduced year on year, enabling companies who could not otherwise afford it to employ a student or graduate.

ONE is also working with sector skills councils to ensure business demand for skills and talent is matched against supply from universities.