In March 2018, the government and the Creative Industries Council (CIC) announced a deal that will see £150 million invested to help the country's world-leading cultural and creative businesses as part of the government's 'Industrial Strategy'.
The key commitments in the deal, aimed at unlocking growth across the UK in the creative industries sector, are summarised below.
Careers Investment
Part of the strategy is to ensure that the growth and new opportunities in the sector are met by workers that have acquired the skills necessary to seize those opportunities. The deal will therefore see up to £2 million made available to kick-start an industry-led skills package which will include a creative careers programme reaching at least 2,000 schools and 600,000 pupils in two years.
Immersive Technologies
The deal aims to double Britain's share of the global creative immersive content market by 2025 which is expected to be worth over £30 billion by that time. In order to take advantage of this growing market, the government is investing over £33 billion in immersive technologies. This includes investment in the virtual reality and video games sectors where consumer spending on video games is set to reach £5 billion by 2021. Above and beyond this investment, the government intends to support the UK Games Fund with an additional £1.5 million over the next two years, to further encourage and support young entrepreneurs and new products within the gaming sector.
Other investments in immersive technologies will include the development of interactive art shows and augmented reality experiences in tourism.
Trade and Investment Board
The current Sector Advisory Group will be replaced by a new government and creative industry led Trade and Investment Board which aims to increase creative industry exports by 50% by 2023 and boost the number of businesses involved in such exports.
Get it Right Campaign
The deal highlights the importance of tackling online piracy, educating consumers about the importance of copyright, and in directing consumers to safe and legitimate sites in order to access their content, by pledging £2 million to addressing these issues.
Crackdown on Copyright infringement
A landmark code of practice brokered by the government and
industry in 2017 saw a reduction in prominence of illegal sites in
search engine results.
To further address concerns around copyright infringement, rights
holders and platforms will conduct a number of roundtable
discussions aimed at developing a similar approach in respect of
the online advertising industry, social media, and online
marketplaces.
The UK Government's Business Secretary, Greg Clark commented that "The deal is evidence of our continued commitment to our world leading creative sector, establishing a partnership that can build on the UK's position and reputation as one the most creative places on earth." We look forward to seeing the benefits of this landmark deal on the industry as they unfold.
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