Scotland In Focus
Event to be staged later this month at the Scottish Parliament by TIGA and NESTA.
October 7, 2009
TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), today announced Scotland In Focus an event to be held on October 28, 2009 at the Scottish Parliament.
Scotland In Focus will look in detail at the strength of the Scottish videogames industry and the challenges it faces with the aim of raising the profile of this crucial sector among Scottish Parliamentarians, Ministers, media and wider stakeholders.
The event is hosted by Joe Fitzpatrick, MSP for Dundee West and will be a panel discussion and networking event for Scottish videogame developers, Scottish Government and other relevant parties.
Speakers & panelists include:
Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO
Jackie McKenzie, NESTA, Head of Innovation Programmes Scotland
Joe Fitzpatrick, MSP for Dundee West
Colin MacDonald, Studio Manager, Real Time Worlds
Colin Anderson, MD, Denki
Jeff Meek, Managing Partner, French Duncan
Paul Durrant, Dare to be Digital
Blair Jenkins, Chair
Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO stated: The Scottish development sector has a combined current turnover of approximately 20m and employs over 700 highly skilled, creative and talented staff. Dundee is the epicenter for the industry in Scotland. However there are also important games companies located across the country, including Edinburgh, Fife and Perthshire.
This highly successful and growing economic sector has great potential. Yet it faces serious challenges: skills shortages, a brain drain of talented staff to development businesses overseas, and a competitive environment characterised by overseas governments giving substantial assistance to their games industries - typically in the form of tax breaks for games production - which puts Scottish developers in particular and the UK games industry in general at a serious competitive disadvantage.
Jackie McKenzie, Head of Innovation Programmes Scotland for NESTA added: Scotland has an extremely vibrant creative sector and we want to encourage its continued growth. By fostering collaboration between different creative industries we encourage innovation and this is crucial to Scotlands long term economic growth.
French Duncan, an independent firm of chartered accountants and business advisors, headquartered in Scotland, are sponsors Scotland In Focus. French Duncan has long been a partner of TIGA, with Jeff Meek, Head of Technology and Media at the firms Edinburgh branch also acting as TIGA treasurer.
Event Details:
What: Panel discussion and networking event
Where: Committee Room 2, Scottish Parliament, Holyrood
When: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 1pm-3pm
For more information on this event visit www.tiga.org or contact eva@tiga.org to reserve your place.
Ends