Tiga announces NESTA link-up

UK developer trade body Tiga has announced a link-up with the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, with the two organisations set to collaborate on a number of initiatives to do with industry employment and skills.

The scheme, called Play Together, will see a number of ideas brought together, including a service which will enable developers to share staff on a flexible basis, as well as a forum for collaboration with other media industries.

"The UK videogames industry competes successfully in a global market place on the basis of a creative, flexible and highly skilled workforce," said Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga. "However, we face a unique set of challenges: skills shortages, high recruitment costs, an unfavourable tax regime and limited availability of finance, all against a backdrop of a global recession and a relatively tight credit market. "Tiga is working with NESTA to promote innovation and greater collaboration within the games industry as a means to overcoming some of these hurdles. The Play Together initiatives will help to cut recruitment costs, reduce skill shortages, promote collaboration and knowledge sharing within the games industry and with other creative sectors, and strengthen industry-academia links.

"These innovative approaches will reduce business costs and encourage innovation and so enable the UK games industry to remain at the forefront of what is currently one of our most successful creative sectors."

Play Together will also include a service for UK developers and suppliers to promote their capabilities or locate a supplier, as well as a service providing students, academics and professionals with information on education courses and opportunities for industry-university collaboration.