Creative & Digital Industries
Video Games
Film and Media
Immersive Tech
Fashion and Textiles
Art and Design
Music and Dance
Video Games
The Midlands is responsible for 25% of the UK’s video game output and home to ‘Silicon Spa’, a sub sector cluster based in Lemington Spa.
Film and Media
Film and media has boomed in recent years, with production studios being constructed across the region. Total expenditure within the industry has grown to over £5.64 billion in 2021, driven largely by inward investment and the rise of high-quality productions made for streaming platforms.
Immersive Tech
Immersive technology involves using new ways to create, display or interact with applications, content and experiences by merging the physical world with simulated reality.
Fashion and Textiles
The UK fashion industry contributed £32.3 billion to the economy in 2023. The Midlands is a significant player, with as many fashion and textiles firms as London.
Art and Design
The Midlands has a thriving art and design sector, covering subsectors such as web, product, marketing, and advertising. Each year, over 9,000 students study art and design at a Midlands university. In the West Midlands alone, there has been a 240% growth in design jobs from 2010 to 2015, making art and design a key regional strength.
Music and Dance
The Midlands is home to an international dance cluster, focused on the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the International Dance Festival. The universities in the Midlands contribute to the development of the music industry through groundbreaking research, facilities, and support for the sector.
Invest in
Creative Digital Industries with a university the Midlands
For decades, the Midlands has produced films, developed software, designed fashion, and created media that has been experienced and enjoyed the world over.
This diversity of creative and digital strengths, which includes gaming, publishing, media and film, software and computing, fashion, design, pottery, and much more, is underpinned by the region’s strong universities.
00
%
of the UK's video game output
000
game companies located in the Midlands
00,000
undergraduate students in creative courses
View our Creative Digital Industries Prospectus.
DownloadLeading Creative Digital Industries assets include:
Confetti Institute at Nottingham Trent University
Comprised of four city centre sites, the Confetti Institute offers access to some of the best facilities in Europe across digital media, film, TV, music, and live events. Students from Nottingham Trent University are trained on industry standard – and better – equipment.
Creative Futures at the University of Warwick
Creative Futures is the gateway between the University of Warwick and the thriving creative cluster in Coventry and Warwickshire. Through its start-up incubators, access to the university’s facilities and research, industry network, access to talent, and funding opportunities, it has supported 45 businesses and generated £2.64 million in sales, grants, and commissions.
Mixed Reality Laboratory at the University of Nottingham
The Mixed Reality Laboratory is revolutionising how we interact with technology in our home, workplace, and entertainment. The Lab has collaborated with and received funding from companies like Google, Unilever, Sony, and BAE to help them create better products for users and consumers.
STEAMhouse at Birmingham City University
Equipped with 3D printers, laser cutting machinery, VR technology, and printing studios, the new STEAMhouse building in Birmingham offers creative companies access to resources and space to grow their business. Business support services are offered with the co-working spaces so firms can maximise the potential of their ideas.
Warwick Esports Centre at the University of Warwick
Already a unique innovation in Europe and recognised national leader, Warwick Esports Centre is continuing to expand its activities for collaborators and investors. Located in the heart of the UK’s gaming cluster, the Centre offers opportunities to train, research, and game on state-of-the-art technology and movable equipment. Warwick understands the potential of esports and has proven it is ready to support the industry in realising that potential
Redefining how universities and industry work together
Through pioneering co-location, joint research and agritech demonstrator initiatives, Midlands universities are redefining how academia works in partnership with the wider food and farming sector
With companies like Codemasters, BT, Ubisoft, Fujitsu, and Oracle in the region, the Midlands hosts exemplary research partnerships; and the Midlands is home to Silicon Spa, a cluster of 40 gaming companies.
Across the Midlands, there are over 14,000 creative businesses that support almost 60,000 jobs – be it in esports, or film production. The universities of the Midlands provide the foundation for an internationally significant concentration of creative and digital research and translation.
How we can help
We are the UK’s first University Investment Concierge Service - helping provide a navigation and connection service for investors seeking to work with our region’s universities. We work in partnership with the region’s cluster organisations, industry bodies, innovation eco-system and growth agencies. We also connect and receive opportunities from local, regional and national government. And our promise is simple: to help connect international investors and companies to our universities – and to promote our region’s universities to the world.
