The strength of Dundee’s digital media sector has been hailed in a major new report but it remains the smallest recognisable cluster in the UK.
The analysis is contained within a new Tech Nation report, which claims to be the first comprehensive analysis of the UK’s digital technology clusters, showing the sector supports 1.46 million UK jobs.
According to the report, Dundee has a total digital workforce of 3,808, which makes it the smallest of the 21 sizeable clusters identified in the document.
The authors also forecast the cluster, which has become a major economic driver for Dundee in recent years and which it said was “famed for its gaming sector”, would grow at a rate of 2.28% annually through to 2020.
“Dundee’s digital technology sector has been driven by a thriving games industry,” the report states.
“The strength of this sector has been underpinned by significant investment in education.
“In 2009 the UK Government invested £2.5 million in a video game centre at Abertay University, the first university in the world to offer a course in computer video gaming engineering.
“This investment has continued with the set-up of IDEAScotland, which will support start-ups in the digital, technology and creative media sectors in Dundee and more broadly.”
The report, which will be welcomed by Prime Minister David Cameron today, found Inner London was the most digitally dense community in the UK, with the tech cluster around Bristol and Bath in second place and Greater Manchester in third.
Glasgow comes in at 13 on the UK list but is the largest cluster in Scotland with a total workforce of 19,282, while Edinburgh is one place further back in the overall standings with a workforce of 17,136.
Professor Louis Natanson, who leads games education at Abertay University, said: “Once a business cluster gains its own momentum you see all sorts of benefits, not least the resilience of the cluster to setbacks and shocks if a highly ambitious company goes bust.
“Dundee has a strong spread of small and mid-sized companies, with many enjoying millions of sales for each title they release.
“Having such a close community of game developers is very important to the health of Dundee’s economy for the future, as well as inspiring local schoolchildren to raise their entrepreneurial aspirations.
“It’s incredibly infectious when a young boy or girl learns that Grand Theft Auto was created in Dundee and the console version of Minecraft is being made here today.”
Baroness Joanna Shields, chairwoman of report compiler Tech City UK, said: “Today’s report reveals the depth of the sector and the complex array of skills, specialisms and strengths that truly make us a Tech Nation.”