Over 30 of the region's brightest minds in interactive digital
media visited Texas last week (12-16 March) as part of the UK
presence at South by Southwest, a film, music and digital
interactive conference. Advantage West Midlands headed up the
regional delegation of companies supported by UKTI, to
showcase the innovation and excellence in content creation and
cross-media collaboration happening here in the West Midlands.
By pooling resources and expertise, the region made a massive
impact in Austin, Texas, to support the region's digital
interactive sector and help it to continue to thrive. Through a
unique collaboration between AWM, UKTI, Birmingham Chamber of
Commerce and Screen West Midlands, the Heart of England West
Midlands was represented on a global stage with an impressive stand
and supported by a dedicated online resource -
www.heartofaustin.com - ensuring visitors could find out more
information and be kept up to date with on-stand developments
throughout the show.
International Inward Investment Manager at AWM Robbie Beak
comments: "SXSWi has been a great success for the West Midlands
this year. With the show being 50 per cent larger than in previous
years, it provided a great opportunity for us to show the world
what an innovative, talented and exciting region the West Midlands
is.
"Our delegation was probably the largest 'regional' delegation
from anywhere in the world, and throughout the show we held more
than 100 meetings on the stand with influential players in the
digital field. In addition to the conference there were a large
number of networking events where we could connect with businesses
who wanted to learn more about our delegation and the West
Midlands".
The Heart of England, the West Midlands region, is home to a
wealth of talent in interactive digital media. Over 20 per cent 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, in partnership with Channel
4, has consolidated the West Midlands at the centre of the digital
media revolution in the UK and that's why the British government
recognises the West Midlands as the UK's lead region for digital
media.
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 was 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 demonstrated 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 were 30 representatives from the West Midlands who
attended the conference, showcasing the innovation in the region,
which included 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.