That's entertainment as Scotland's digital age brings in 100,000 jobs

Published on Tuesday 20 May 2008 21:24

SCOTLAND'S "digital entertainment" sector employs some 100,000 people, and generates collective sales of £5 billion, a report due to be published tomorrow will show.

Employment in the sector almost matches the numbers directly employed in financial services, research conducted with the support of Scottish Enterprise will reveal.

And the report – Digital Entertainment in Scotland – will be used to illustrate the potential for Scottish companies and universities to tap into a global digital entertainment marketplace estimated to be worth $1.5 trillion (760bn).

According to the research, to be published by start-up analysts Young Company Finance and venture management firm 2in10, the sector generates 4 per cent of Scotland's economic output and employs 6.7 per cent of the nation's workforce.

The document will explore the areas where Scotland has the best chance of creating "world class" businesses, including creating film and video content across multiple platforms.

Citing examples such as mobile phone software specialists Picsel Technologies and Mobiqa, 2in10 chairman Alastair Balfour said Scotland had the "potential to punch above its weight" on the global stage. "Digital entertainment is the fastest-moving area of global technology right now," he noted. "It is centred on delivering creative content to a wide range of audiences through different devices."

The report is due to be unveiled at a conference in Glasgow tomorrow. Around 150 delegates are expected to attend the event at the Royal Concert Hall to hear the findings.

Balfour added: "With the conference we are not going to come out with a call to arms, but we do want to show companies the scale of the opportunities that are available to them globally.

"Certainly, the intellectual quality is already out there in many of the areas."

Digital entertainment spans a range of industries from television and film production to mobile phone software and computer games publishing.

It also encompasses the music and arts arena, through ventures such as Linn Records, the recording offshoot of the eponymous Scottish hi-fi manufacturer.

Last year, the label – whose stable of artists includes renowned saxophonist Tommy Smith and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – launched a digital download service providing sound quality superior to that of a CD.

The conference, which is being chaired by Balfour, is also set to feature presentations by Mike Short, the chief technology officer of mobile phone giant O2, and Philip Jay, head of new services at the BBC. It will be rounded off with a "Moving Conversations" event from the Futurist Cinema Company.

Balfour, a former journalist who co-founded the Entrepreneurial Exchange and has been involved in a string of start-ups since the 1980s, added: "The report and conference, uniquely, bring Scotland's creative and technology communities together to explore how we grab more of a slice of the worldwide market for creative content and technology."