Birmingham City University’s Contribution to the Creative Economy

Background

Birmingham City University’s impact on the Creative Industries is significant in terms of depth, breadth and duration. In our city the sector accounts for around 20,000 jobs – four per cent of the city’s workforce. The 3,450 creative businesses make up 10 per cent of the city’s total number of firms and business numbers have grown by almost 20 per cent since 2003. The Creative Industries sector employs more people than either construction or the manufacture, sale and repair of cars, and similar numbers to the legal, accountancy and management consultancy professions combined. 93 per cent of creative firms in the city are micro-businesses, employing 10 or fewer people. The sector produces more than £660m of GVA (source Business Link).

Birmingham City University’s Rationale for Engagement and Source of Support

As a university we have long understood the importance of the creative economy and this is reflected in the sector being widely recognised in our course, research and industry engagement portfolios. We have world class research, we engage at international, national and regional level, we have recently networked with over 200 senior influencers in the sector, and in the last few years we have interacted with over 500 businesses, assisting and supporting them in economic development. We are the leading provider of undergraduate talent for creative industries outside of London and are considered within the top five Media Skillset Academies in the country. Our work is innovative and we have sought to challenge creative boundaries.

Birmingham City University’s extensive learning and teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities are very closely aligned with the DCMS’s definition of the Creative Industries. However the University prefers a more refined definition via the following subsets – architecture, film and animation, visual communication, arts/crafts, fashion, product design, music and performance – that allows both students and staff to acknowledge the Creative Industries’ tendency to embrace convergence and innovation.

The Creative Industries are supported through three key faculties, namely Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD); the Faculty of Performance, Media and English (PME); and the Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the Environment (TEE). We are world class in our online media provision and recognised internationally for our Conservatoire (rated in the top three for research in the UK) which recently hosted the International Double Reed Society’s convention (usually hosted in the USA). We have broken new ground in the use of technology applications (examples detailed below) and have associations with some of the world’s leading practitioners. For example Birmingham City University hosts the National Academy of Writing, whose president Lord Melvyn Bragg and committee of highly esteemed authors link with the University to assist in developing writers of the future.

While the Creative Industries have been defined by the economic mechanisms that drive the creation of IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), the University recognises the necessity of scholarly engagement with the cultural sector. The local, regional and national impact of cultural engagement is widely acknowledged and accepted as a key economic driver but the link between the University

as a broker and driver of cultural engagement and the quantitative impact such work has upon the Creative Industries cannot always be measured over the short term. For example, the University recently hosted a Big Debate in partnership with the local regional newspaper Birmingham Post and NEC Group regarding how the West Midlands’ Creative Economy can lead the UK in development of its skills, reputation and ability. This was attended by some 200 leading figureheads in Birmingham and the region and featured key speaker Charles Leadbetter. The event led to a report which has been issued to the local Business Link, Screen West Midlands, Birmingham City Council, Digital Birmingham and Advantage West Midlands (AWM, the regional development agency) with the creation of facilitated discussions to support the development of activity and continues to reinforce the significant role the University plays in stimulating debate and thinking.

Birmingham City University’s Approach (including timescales, engagement, funding and involvement, with quantified outcomes)

To facilitate development of added value in the Creative Industries the University has structured its research, innovation and enterprise engagement activities into themes which are supported by our Centres of Excellence and specialist interest groups (focusing on knowledge transfer, workforce development and wider employer engagement) and these include:

Design

Digital

Culture

Each theme has a range of academics who are operating around:

Learning and teaching – within this we embed work-based learning experience. There are eight foundation and pregraduate courses, 37 undergraduate and 53 postgraduate courses operating within this field. Birmingham City University looks to innovate with its courses constantly, incorporating strong engagement with industry and insight into current research. Consequently, areas of specific working under the DCMS’s headings such as advertising can be explored and redefined across subject areas by students and practice active staff. It is for this reason that Saatchi and Saatchi, Wunderman and Trevor Beattie choose to work with a university that has contributed to their industry through research-led innovation to ‘guerrilla’ advertising. The University is recognised as an innovator for fresh ideas. For example in design over 200 students in Interior Design, Product Design and Textiles Design at BA and MA level work with international trends forecasting agency Global Color to produce an industry exhibition to showcase future trends to over 30,000 trade visitors. The students are recognised by Global Color, UBM Live (a major events organiser) and international wallcovering manufacturer, Tektura, for high quality work. The project has resulted in 20 commission requests in the last year, and five work placements and job offers (which are ongoing) in addition to creating 53 new knowledge transfer leads and two major consultancy projects with Marvell’s and the National History Museum.

Workforce development and continuing professional development – through specialist centres like the University’s Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre (JIIC) we have been cultivating design skills

throughout the Creative Industries, allowing them to appreciate the potential of cutting edge technology by engaging with 563 individuals over the last three years. Our Media Skillset Academy status has led to engagement with the BBC, Global Media Group and Guardian Media Group, resulting in substantial benefits to our curriculum delivery and has resulted in the development of a Foundation Degree in radio production as co-taught provision. The work of our Screen Media Lab, a tailored industry facility which promotes multimedia and content skills to industry, has allowed non-creative businesses to access creative talent through the provision of initiatives like Talent Bank and Notion Studio, while its Skills Bank has facilitated an upgrading of skills of some 500 individuals. In addition to more standard training approaches, Birmingham City University has been working with leading industry practitioners to provide cutting edge training. For example in the games industry, our School of Media led an initiative entitled Gamer Camp – an idea which Birmingham City University identified when attending South by South West, a leading international conference hosted in America, at the cutting edge of digital innovation. Offering an alternative educational experience based on work-based learning, the University identified a gap in the market to apply knowledge of games and animation in this way. The course was developed with Screen West Midlands, and in consultation with Hyper Island, Apple and leading industry stakeholders. Launched in 2009, 11 participants completed the programme, making them industry-ready to take immediate jobs within the animation and games industry because the training delivery was so closely aligned to industry requirements (with much of the course delivery being given by expert practitioners in the field).

Business assists – The University has been successful at linking up with a range of public funding providers in developing specific activity to support the Creative Industries. In December 2002, with HEIF 2 funds (Higher Education Innovation Fun for 2004-06), the School of Media established Screen Media Lab a commercially engaged entity which works either in collaboration with businesses or with interns and graduates to offer leading-edge web, video and mobile services. The University invested in the area to offer graduates work based opportunities, to develop relevant curriculum, and to build a development capability to directly support industry. The initiative was funded initially via ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), ESF (European Social Fund), commercial income, HEIF , SRIF (Science Research Investment Fund), National Lottery , NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) , AWM and Business Link. Work is now focused on commercial and research-based income to make it sustainable. The JIIC through its New Product Development Programme completed 427 individual business assists given to over 270 businesses with over £2m generated in new sales, 25 new jobs created and 213 jobs safeguarded over a five-year period from 2003. An example of how the JIIC provides assistance to a wide range of creative industries is the way it created small-scale dragons for a Harry Potter movie using its extensive CAD/CAM facilities. The centre is internationally respected for its expertise in using small-scale, highly complex rapid prototyping to provide new product development solutions for companies.

Other projects which support industry have included Media Vault, Net Infinity and Design Knowledge Network (which target a range of sectors from designer makers through to manufacturers e.g. of furniture – figures of which are provided below), Digital Central and Interactive Digital Media (which targeted the digital media and games companies). Collectively these have undertaken well in excess of 1,000 business assists to regional companies over the last five years which have made a major contribution to the region’s upskilling and regeneration programmes.

Knowledge transfer – Birmingham City University is one of the leading providers of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs – a government supported scheme for business and other organisations) in the UK. Over a 10-year rolling period Birmingham City University has run 36 KTPs, related to Creative Industries, this represents a wealth of experience in knowledge transfer. Our KTPs are peer reviewed and the majority have been graded 1 (outstanding) and 2 (very good). The impact of these KTPs on the companies’ profit before tax has been significant. Average profit increase for Creative Industry related KTPs, as a direct result of a KTP, three years after project completion is £191,000. Average profit increases over 32 completed KTPs, (three years since project completion) is £6,112,000. Our KTP Associate working with R. Holts & Co Ltd managed by Birmingham City University’s JIIC has just won Business Leaders Tomorrow Awards 2009.

Research – Birmingham City University has long been a leading research university in the Creative Industries. The returns from RAE-2008 (Research Assessment Exercise) showed that Birmingham City University made one of the largest improvements since RAE-2001, moving up 26 places in the THE’s (Times Higher Education publication) research quality tables. Three-quarters of the research submitted was judged excellent (4*, 3* or 2*) with almost one-fifth judged to be world-leading (4*). Art and Design was rated in the top 10 submissions in the country, and the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design was judged to have a 100 per cent 4* research environment. Birmingham Conservatoire was judged to be the third highest rated Conservatoire in the country and the highest rated outside London. Much of the world-class research was found within the design, digital and cultural themes, demonstrating our commitment to research, knowledge exchange and third-stream activities within Creative Industries sector. As a result of the excellent RAE results, QR (Quality Related) funding for research) from Hefce (Higher Education Funding Council for England ) doubled and the University is investing significantly in research through the creation of a network of 12 Centres of Excellence and the formation of the Institute for Digital Experience and Applications, specifically to integrate research that is of direct relevance to the Creative Industries and digital economy, from across the University.

Engagements by the University in this space are wide and varied in terms of focus. The University has led the way in reviewing how digital infrastructure is changing the mode of operation for the industry, and led an AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council) project into change within the music and radio industry in the new digital age. Working with Capsule, Punch Records and Unity FM the project has been able to forge innovation, review communication and promote consolidation, with the creation of new prototypes for advocacy, new networks and new knowledge exchange. A project in Digital Archiving, in partnership with Screen West Midlands, TV Junction, MACE, the British Library, and Birmingham Archive and Heritage, has opened up access of digital archives to the cultural sector, aiding knowledge exchange and development. Our work with digital technologies as enablers of new forms of creative media applications is also extending understanding.

The LUCID (Location, User and Context-Aware Information Delivery) project funded by Advantage West Midlands through Science City is just one of many projects we have engaged in that contributed to the Creative Economy – Birmingham City University’s User-lab’s ongoing work in usability and user-centred design regularly sees it working with creative industry organisations such as regional SMEs and larger organisations such as Birmingham City Council. The LUCID project’s focus is on enabling technology and applications development for local creative companies to help them engage with their clients in areas where they lacked expertise (specifically in delivery of

context-aware mobile applications/services). With significant experience of how users and audiences respond to innovative technologies through the University’s work and our extensive engagement with local creative industries, Birmingham City University was well placed to facilitate and lead this project, which provided some eight demonstrations of practical applications of value adding audience development activity. Working in partnership with 383 Project, Urban Pie, Flatpack, Trilby Media, Digital Birmingham, TV Junction, MACE, and the British Library the project highlighted a range of application opportunities for the cultural sectors to develop interactive communications with their audiences.

Our research is leading to the development of new technology. Birmingham City University’s Visualisation Research Unit (VRU) has been experimenting and developing technologies for extending and enhancing the creative practice of artists, filmmakers, composers and choreographers. It has recently filed a patent for a novel motion capture/HCI (human computer interface) device, and has presented 20+ conference papers and a public education programme for artists using technology as well as collaborative agreements with local arts organisations. The VRU addresses directly the increasing demand from practitioners and postgraduate students to explore and extend the use of technology in creative situations, by integrating technology expertise into creative practices such as music, dance and fine art. Supported by University funds and a SRIF grant (to acquire the motion capture equipment and computing power required), the project has attracted AHRC, JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee for Higher Education) and Arts Council funding and been supported by Elmhurst School for Dance, Eastside Projects, VIVID, Ikon, Animazoo, Wolverhampton University and Kings College.

Our Design research group has been employing innovation design principles to traditional engineering based disciplines. Using an ‘arts’ based designing approach permits the creation of FM (functionally marvellous) user experiences rather than FU (functionally unacceptable) user experiences in software. This work crosses the disciplines of psychology, computing, design and linguistics. The potential benefits available through our investigations into the design of more successful user interfaces are enormous, both in terms of enhanced creative access to software for users, time/money saving at the user interface, greater user satisfaction and reductions in user stress levels leading to enhanced psychological wellbeing. The work funded by Birmingham City University is being followed worldwide and is widely exposed within scholarly publications and conferences demonstrating the University’s international influence within this field of expertise.

Our Visual Communication research team has been writing and disseminating materials that demonstrate how typographic history has made a contribution to the current practice of typographic arts by Birmingham designers and scholars. This builds on a major piece of work undertaken by academics and students to revive interests in the Baskerville font, which resulted in a new commissioned piece featured at Hello Digital 2008. It will support an evolution in typographic thinking which will impact on a wide section of the advertising and graphics community.

Our work with virtual environments seeks to use its potential as a creative stimulus. Digital Birmingham, BT, AWM and Daden have supported us in examining the usability of virtual worlds for collaborative virtual learning. This means understanding which activities are best served by this technology, and which activities are not served by virtual worlds, and which need specific development. The results have been published in national journals, at European conferences and are

being validated currently by a US-based university. The impact will be able to support creative practitioners working in this space to provide better virtual educational tools.

Our research reaches beyond the UK. Birmingham City University is working with 16 cities in two Interreg Programmes to share best practices and lessons for policy development in the creative economy - Creative Metropoles and ECCE Innovation.

Consultancy – our consultancy operates across a range of activities. The work of Paul Bradshaw, MA online journalism course director, with regional newspapers such as MRN (which owns Birmingham Post), national newspapers including the Guardian and international newspapers such as the New York Times has changed the shape of newsrooms around the world. His new model of online journalism highlighting major structural change requirements has resulted in major changes in the newspaper industry. His work has been reported widely as being an instrumental driver in change within journalism and has resulted in 23 editors directly receiving training and development from the University. Paul now attends conferences for online journalism across the globe. The work of the Design Knowledge Network, an Advantage West Midlands funded project, resulted in £2,471,000 in sales and 55 new jobs over a five-year period. It is assisting small and medium businesses in embracing technologically innovative products and processes in addition to supplying the industry with some 180 research reports with trends information, investigations and the provision of analytical models to assist in performance improvement. Working with researchers, tutors and knowledge transfer staff the Design Knowledge Network is seen as a unique resource in the region. Our School of Architecture recently linked up with Birmingham City Council and its Big City Plan to provide research evidence and community engagement to establish a new housing prototype, reflecting Birmingham’s cultural heritage. The project will be instrumental in establishing a brief for the entire West Midlands architectural community to develop a new house type for social housing in Birmingham. The project reinforces the central role that the School of Architecture plays in supporting new thinking and the development of new talent and its potential to provide new insight into the sector.

Employability/entrepreneurship – Birmingham City University works extensively with Business Link, LSC (Learning Skills Council) and Advantage West Midlands on the employability agenda. Screen Media Lab is seen as a leader by NESTA in delivering its Insight Out programme to nurture creative talent by specifically assisting individuals to set up creative businesses. The programme has engaged the support of 48 organisations, engaged 121 participants, specifically supporting graduate retention in the region. The project has directly contributed to increasing business start ups in the region. This is being extended with support from Birmingham City Council in the BSEEN programme, which also involves Aston and Birmingham Universities, in assisting city-based graduates to establish their own businesses. The School of Visual Communications has just trialled a project entitled Kerning, giving businesses access to high-calibre undergraduates to assist in problem solving. The initiative resulted in the creation of a new business entitled SMILE which has just won a Business Link award for innovation and been awarded funding as a potential high growth business. Additionally, Warner Brothers, Cartier, Cadbury and others have come to us for support because they recognise our breadth of creative engagement. Birmingham City University believes that there is a link between such engagement and the recent report that art, design, media and performance graduates (Creative Futures – CHEAD) actively embrace portfolio careers and argues that one area of the Creative

Industries will work to feed another, thereby improving quality and driving innovation.

Events and networks – building networks, developing understanding and distributing intelligence is a key part of Birmingham City University’s role in contributing to the region. In addition to events like the Big Debate, which has been sponsored for the last four years (covering subjects including the role of regional arts and the role of technology in the Creative Industries), Birmingham City University has hosted and been part of a significant industry engagement programme. Creative Networks, established five years ago, hosts 12 events a year and features practitioners of national and international standing to engage industry in reviewing best practice and identifying how to improve performance. The events are geared around promoting networking and contact generation for emerging businesses and are further supported by a team of professionals who provide business assist activity from content support to skills enhancement. The initiative has engaged some 300 business over the last five years and supported 440 training activities. Furthermore Birmingham City University has been active in developing forums to assist communities in coming together to establish a collective vision and approach. For example in 2008, the School of Media facilitated the establishment of Animation Forum, through Advantage West Midlands funding. The Forum now has more than 700 active members.

Birmingham City University has been a key contributor to events including Hello Digital, Flip Animation Festival, and Flatpack – all recognised at national or international level. For example, SCAMP (Sound of Computer Music Aided Performance) run in the School of Digital Media Technology since the 2005/06 academic year, developed audio and visual content especially for the Hello Digital festival using newly created work developed by staff and students. The performance allowed the University, through the use of its excellent performance facilities, to showcase the work of BEAST (a world-class musical ensemble which uses technology in music and is based at the University of Birmingham). The Hello Digital festival allowed Birmingham City University to bring the concept of SCAMP to a much broader audience and through BEAST, brought sound and visual performance together on a scale not seen before. The collaboration allowed Birmingham to deliver another world first.

Birmingham City University has a range of event-based activities which draw industry into its final year student shows. For example the School of Visual Communication launched the Trevor Awards, which recognise new talent, with awards for advertising, illustration, moving image, publishing, character development, branding, photography, editorial design, graphic communication and enterprise. Sponsored by BMB, AOI (Association of Illustrators), ABC, Panasonic, Laurence King Publishers, Fotospeed, British American Media, Clusta and Business Link. The awards reinforce the University’s commitment to engaging with industry and focusing on the employability of newly qualified graduates.

New Listed Works – The University has been instrumental in driving forward new works across music, drama, photography and the written word. For example Birmingham City University led the Integra project (an EU Culture funded programme) taking live electronics pieces and putting them on a common software platform, reviving pieces that had been lost due to changing hardware. The project which is of international standing has commissioned five new pieces and realised the University’s international contribution towards live electronics. Other activities, relating to new

work, around the use of photography, and film making with the Birmingham Conservatoire, resulted in the DVD 'Conservatoire Folk Ensemble Live’, a segment in Paolo Degregorio's film 'Los Caminos del Cahon', and the imminent release of a musical album called 'Carved in Bone'. The School of Visual Communication’s photographic talent is further demonstrated by Dr Day’s recent book: Robert Frank's 'The Americans: the Art of Documentary Photography' with Intellect/University of Chicago. These examples highlight the University’s contribution to new content and support for artists in realising their ambitions.

Strategy and development – the participation, secondment and contribution of our academic team on a wide variety of networks and think tanks provide the University with a unique ability to add value to strategy development within the region and beyond. For example, Dave Harte from our School of Media was seconded to Birmingham City Council’s Digital Birmingham programme to support it in developing a wider engagement strategy for digital activity in the city. Dave Harte is now a leading ambassador for our newly created Institute for Digital Experience and Applications and feeds directly into AWM’s Science City interactive digital media initiative and into Screen West Midlands with Birmingham City Council, specifically working on the digital participation agenda. Ruth Reed, from the School of Architecture is currently on secondment (funded through HEIF) as the President of RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), driving international thinking on behalf of the UK architectural community. Jon Hickman, a leading researcher and tutor in online and social networking, orchestrated a conference to allow practitioners from the region to respond to the Digital Britain report. The event was supported by a postgraduate Events & Exhibition Management intern, providing unique work experience and was recognised within the national Digital Britain process for its contribution to dialogue. Funded entirely by the University, the event was seen as an instrumental driver in allowing the West Midlands based Creative Industries to input into the Digital Britain process.

Community engagement – Birmingham City University is committed to its wider community with a comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. This vision is fully embraced within our Creative Industries work.

In a major initiative, the University is co-sponsoring, with the Ormiston Trust, a new 14-19 Academy specialising in digital media, and performing and creative arts – the Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA). The Academy will open in 2011 and is being developed with support from the BRIT School and local creative industries partners. It has received significant support from government and is unique in that it will recruit from across the West Midlands and will be wholly selective on the basis of aptitude. BOA will work closely with the Creative Industries in the region to help nurture the talent and develop the skills of future employees and entrepreneurs. It will seek to raise aspiration levels of young people and facilitate and encourage progression to higher education.

A further example of community engagement is our support for the Government’s Gifted and Talented agenda, where the School of Media has worked with young students from disadvantaged backgrounds to produce a ‘Sound it Out’ community engagement programme. The five-day summer school provided students in Years 9 and 10 with an opportunity to develop the skills required to produce a basic radio feature. Students gained hands-on experience using audio recording and editing equipment – along with scriptwriting skills, editorial decision making, digital music

composition, radio journalism and voice work for radio. The outcomes provided unique content for community radio – reinforcing benefits to industry as well as the community.

The academics engaged with these projects are documented in three University publications:

Discover Digital

Trends

Design Is

A report is currently being compiled for our cultural contribution which is widely recognised and is a key submission element within Birmingham’s bid for UK City of Culture. The University is a board member of the Birmingham Cultural Partnership and is an active member of the cultural community. The University is leading, in partnership with the Arts Council, on the new visual arts strategy for the City. The University supports the strategic thinking of the region through participation and involvement in arts programmes, with involvement in the Eastside Consortium, partnerships with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and active involvement in the Creative Birmingham programme which specifically targets emerging businesses (cultural and creative) with support and assistance. The University contributes significantly to the vitality of West Midlands’ cultural programming. Annual output varies by year, but normally includes a minimum of 300 performances, exhibitions or events produced. Within this number are around 250 concerts, 15 fully staged productions (plays, musicals, operas) in professional venues, 15-20 major exhibitions, and other events such as film festivals, fashion, technology and creative writing showcases, in addition to the dedicated Creative Industries networking events. Additional to this core activity are festivals and other major events, often celebrating anniversaries or specific initiatives, as well as high-profile commissioned or collaborative activity. Of this work, recent examples include the University’s annual New Generation Arts Festival (showcasing new talent), which launched in 2008 on the BBC World news, exhibiting, hosting the International Double Reed Society 2009 conference, co-organising a major Matthew Boulton academic conference, and leading a two-phase (six-year) pan-European music technology research/performance projects, Integra.

Birmingham City University’s Geographic Reach

It is possible to see from the approaches listed above that our reach is global. Our research, knowledge and contacts cross the Atlantic and extend throughout Europe. The impact of our work is discussed internationally. Our strategic guidance reaches internationally and impacts locally at a significant level. The reach of employer engagement is national, supporting large media players and global advertising businesses. We assist creative businesses across the region and we are fundamental to the economic performance of Creative Industries both locally and regionally. Our contribution to the regional cultural economy is significant.

The impact of Birmingham City University’s Engagement with the Creative Industries

Birmingham City University’s impact can be summarised as follows:

We educate more creative practitioners than any other University outside London – we care passionately about employability and every one of our courses in the creative sector has

been re-energised through our curriculum review process to ensure it has employability and industry in mind.

We are proactive in providing extensive workforce development across the industry to organisations involved in media, digital, arts practice, performance and design. Our reputation as a top five Media Skillset Academy and our strong links with global media players, demonstrates our international potential. In recent years we have worked with over 500 businesses from our region.

We assist the Creative Industries in generating new sales to a value of nearly £10m over five years and created hundreds of new jobs through our business-assist activity derived through projects like Screen Media Lab, JIIC, Design Knowledge Network, Digital Central and KTPs.

We are leaders in design-related knowledge transfer partnerships conducting more than 32 KTPs and supporting businesses in generating new sales, safeguarding jobs and reducing costs with additional profits in excess of £6.1m over 10 years.

We provide cutting edge pure and applied research with five major centres of excellence focused on this area. The University is increasing direct investment in research to almost £3M per annum from internal funds and QR, complemented by funds from Research Councils, the EU and other external sources.

We are investing in 36 fully funded PhD studentships for three years, with a third of these being targeted directly to the Creative Industries sector.

Our consultancy whether delivered by our academics or through student led projects, provides a sound platform for business enhancement which drives performance improvement. Global businesses including Cadbury, M&S and Aga have endorsed our work and our local council has publicly praised our innovation. International leading figures in Media (The Guardian, BBC and Channel 4) and advertising (Wunderman, Saatchi and Saatchi and Trevor Beattie) have commended our work

Our events and networking activities have brought us into contact with all the leading figures regionally in the Creative Industries and we have engaged with thousands of individuals through our events activities. These events have been reported regionally and nationally with the majority of interior designs event organisations requesting to partner with us, and many leading regional businesses eager to embrace us within their event programming.

We have a significant influence on strategy delivered through strategic partnerships with the regional development agency, Birmingham City Council, Screen West Midlands, Arts Council and major arts organisations.

Birmingham City University’s Key Messages to Government

From our extensive work with the Creative Industries community and internal dialogue we feel there are nine key messages to government that require driving forward:

1. The formula nature of HEIF funding is very welcome. However the current input metrics to drive it are academic staff FTE and 'third stream' revenues. The current funding challenge for universities means that there is strong pressure to focus on revenue/surplus generating activities. This puts pressure on the University to invest in those activities that do make a direct financial return.

2. Government needs to invest more in graduate start-ups and recognise the portfolio nature of many careers with the cultural and creative industries particularly in the graduate destinations surveys.

3. We would like to see the Government recognise the value of university orchestrated networking, events and forums within HEBCI and HEIF allocation formula as these are instrumental in supporting innovation, new start ups and in generating the infrastructure necessary to support business in the regions. There would also be significant benefit in recognising the human support requirements needed to develop strong alumni networks to enhance networks and interactions between universities and businesses.

4. We believe the government should recognise that for innovative skills enhancement (central to the support of all business and industry and not just the Creative Industries) that support for universities in developing experimental programmes e.g. Gamer Camp are key.

5. The Government's innovation agenda is very science and technology focused and does not recognise the contribution of creativity and design thinking. Many of the design related projects that we have completed (with the support of our RDA) have not only supported designer-makers but also manufacturers e.g. furniture, lighting etc. Interventions such as workshops allow us to impress upon manufacturers the importance of design thinking to create competitive advantage. This improves their business and also enables them to seek advice from the Creative Industries. This needs wider recognition and appreciation.

6. We believe there is a need to invest in understanding how virtual education environments and real world educational resources need to converge. This requires urgent attention to ensure we can capitalise on our knowledge economy status.

7. Knowledge Exchange offers excellent means of engaging HE expertise with industry sectors. This is especially important as the significance of tacit knowledge becomes more recognised. The government needs to maintain and ideally expand investment in this key area.

8. Artists are useful for developing intellectual property through creative thinking and practice and universities, with access to funding and investment, can make local agreements to develop a capital base for the good of local industry.

9. There is a need to commit research funding for less conventional approaches to problems which require inter-disciplinary solutions if needed.

Overall there is a need to place more emphasis on the significant role universities are playing in underpinning the Creative Industries sector in their city-regions. This summary document highlights a wide range of activity which is not always accounted for in surveys such as HEBCI, which are conducted by government. Such action is crucial to economic regeneration.

We are passionately committed to Birmingham flourishing as a creative city. Birmingham City University is at the heart of the Creative Industries in Birmingham. We provide intellectual nourishment and cultural leadership and greater recognition of this would be appreciated.