Some of the region's brightest minds in interactive digital
media are visiting Texas next week (12-21 March) as part of the UK
presence at South by Southwest, a film, music and interactive
festival.
Advantage West Midlands is heading up the regional delegation of
industry experts supported by UKTI, to showcase the innovation and
excellence in content creation and cross-media collaboration.
The Heart of England, the West Midlands region, is home to a
wealth of talent in interactive digital media. Over 20% of the UK's
game developers are based here and it has leveraged its long
history in traditional gaming technology to produce some of the top
serious gaming applications in the world. On top of this, a
£10 million digital media fund has consolidated the West
Midlands at the centre of the digital media revolution in the
UK.
Advantage West Midlands Chief Executive Mick Laverty, comments
"We have a highly skilled regional workforce and an impressive
knowledge base in this sector, particularly in social media and
games, where we are making significant advancements and nurturing
the next generation of innovators. Some of this talent will be on
display at South by SouthWest, not only to win business, but to
help our region's interactive sector continue to thrive. In
addition we are demonstrating to American companies how they
can expand their businesses to service the UK and European markets
while being supported by an experienced and enthusiastic digital
media community regionally."
There are 20 West Midlands companies attending the festival, to
showcase the innovation in the region, which include Fish in a
Bottle Ltd, which works on projects for Disney and the BBC,
Maverick Television, a production company which creates cross
platform content for more than twenty major UK TV formats, and
Screen WM which supports, promotes and develops a thriving screen
media sector in the West Midlands by raising the profile of
available locations and talent.