Member Article

Spotlight set to shine on North East digital and creative sector

Some of the region’s top creative and digital talent will come together at an event in Newcastle next week to highlight issues surrounding the industry.

Shining the Spotlight, to be held at Wylam Brewery Thursday September 29, will see support organisation Digital Union outline its strategy to bring the best out the North East’s creative and digital sector.

Alongside a host of entrepreneurs and tech business talent, Digital Union - powered by creative development agency Generator - is gathering a panel of national and regional journalists, to demonstrate and discuss how the industry can gain greater recognition.

Jim Mawdsley, Generator CEO, explained: “When we took on Digital Union and talked to all the key businesses involved they felt that a lot of the great work the sector is doing was not making it into the media, and that many didn’t know where to start despite their passion for the region.

“We wanted to put this right, to shine a spotlight on the great work the businesses of the region’s creative digital sector is doing across the globe.

“We need to do something for ourselves to get away from the complete myth that the North is all about Manchester. This event will show why we are a sector with a significant economic point to make.”

Generator – which oversees the Digital Union membership network and represents the leading creative digital companies in the North East – recently announced anew ERDF-funded business support programme worth £1.7m supporting creative digital businesses in the North East LEP area over the next two years.

The aim of its business support strategy is to grow the creative digital sector and improve on the current figure of £33,613.77 per individual GVA contribution to the UK economy currently achieved in the North East LEP area of Newcastle, Gateshead, Durham and Sunderland – a figure higher than the GVA per person of Greater Manchester.

Jim continued: “Shining the Spotlight event will see us launch a simple, but highly effective strategy that is all about storytelling; our first media pack has the latest stories coming out of creative businesses such as mobile specialist studio Gospelware, game developers Atomhawk and Sunderland software innovators Geek Talent.

“At the event, we will have a range of journalists available to meet businesses and take part in a panel debate.

“We believe that the North East is a thriving, fiercely independent creative digital hotbed working with global clients on a ground-breaking portfolio of work.”

The event, which will include our Editor Jamie Hardesty as part of the panel, will take place at 5pm Thursday 29 at Wylam Brewery’s Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park, Newcastle.

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