Sector mission to strengthen links

Nick Ramshaw, chairman of Leeds Media, said within the Leeds city region 14,000 people work in the digital sector – double the number that work in the legal sector.

He said the sector is populated by general and specialist firms and advertising agencies that have diversified away from traditional media towards digital media.

“Yorkshire has a thriving creative sector and the region is home to a number of outstanding businesses at the forefront of creativity and technology”, said Gary Williamson, chief executive of Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber.

He said certain sectors within the creative industries have continued to experience growth throughout the challenging economic environment and creative business centres, such as the Round Foundry, have seen increased demand for office space.

Meanwhile, the sector in the Sheffield city region is “about the fastest growing in the country”, said James Wilson, a manager at Creative Sheffield.

A Centre for Cities study reported that in the last decade it grew by 71 per cent in Sheffield, he said, adding: “It’s a very productive sector; compared to other sectors it adds more to the economy per job.

“GVA per worker is more than £50,000, which is why the likes of ourselves see it as very important in terms of seeing it develop further.

“There is a good variety of companies and a lot of home-grown talent.”

E-learning is very strong in Sheffield, said Mr Wilson, adding: “Sheffield is one of, if not the, centres for e-learning technology and activity in the country.”

Lee Strafford, private sector board member on Sheffield City Region LEP and founder of Plusnet, said: “When people think about Sheffield they think about steel and the traditional manufacturing, which has an important role to play but this is anachronistic and not entirely representative given that the creative and digital industries (CDI) employ over 45,000 people in the Sheffield City region and constitute seven per cent of the total regional workforce.

“Because of this, the CDI sector is regarded as a high growth sector and vital to the revitalisation of the city region’s economy.”

However, although the sector is thriving, the big challenge is “connecting the possibilities”, said Mr Ramshaw.

Leeds Media wants the city to be known for its creative sector, Mr Ramshaw said, adding: “It’s been underplayed in the past.”

Leeds is quite “fragmented”, he said, explaining that there have been no major developments like Media City in Salford.

Mr Ramshaw said: “A lot of businesses don’t realise the depth and skill of the sector.

“It is important to make sure companies in the region understand the potential of digital in their businesses.”

Mr Ramshaw added: “Businesses can’t stand still. With pressures on the bottom line, they have to constantly look at the way they do business and how they do things.

“The digital arena has got huge potential. It is constantly showing new ways of doing things, as long as clients are prepared to invest.

“Some of the digital players in this area have some great ideas. Maybe they are not being used as much as they could.”

Creative Sheffield is also looking to increase collaboration work around the city region, said Mr Wilson.

He added this is “to help support companies to work together and access opportunities together, not just within the creative and digital sector so that sector can support other parts of the economy but in advanced manufacturing, healthcare and the public sector.”