Cross-regional programme aimed at creative industries sector

A unique cross-regional programme aimed at maximising the economic potential of the creative industries sector has just drawn to a close. Over the past two years, the £3.5 million Ulster University-led Honeycomb programme delivered training to 3,000 people in the Border region, organised more than 120 networking and business support events, and assisted creative digital content enterprises win more than £380,000 in public sector contracts which would otherwise have been closed to them.

“We held an event every 2½ days during the two years of the project,” says Fiona McElroy, creative enterprise manager with the Ulster University and Honeycomb project manager. “It was intense but very worthwhile. The industry appreciated it and will miss it. It wasn’t just a programme devised by university administrators; it made a real impact on the sector.”

The Honeycomb-Creative Works programme targeted the digital content sector in Northern Ireland, the six Border counties of the Republic and the western seaboard of Scotland.

Delivered by a partnership led by Ulster University and comprising Dundalk Institute of Technology and Creative Skillset in Scotland, and part-financed by the European Union's European Regional Development through the Interreg IVA Cross-Border Programme, Honeycomb addressed the economic, educational, social and cultural needs of the sector by focusing on SMEs, organisations and individuals that play a role or have a vested interest in the development of the sector. Areas of particular focus were film and broadcast, animation, computer gaming, interactive media and music technologies.

“The programme had four key themes,” McElroy says. “The first was research- and intelligence-gathering to monitor sectoral developments and ensure that the programme was constantly updated in light of new industry requirements.

“The second was the development of networks of scale to build the capacity of sector and establish greater links between digital content SMEs, freelancers and start-ups across the three regions. In the area of skills development, we addressed the shortfall in sector-specific training for digital content companies. Finally, we also provided development and project finance through the Honeypot dedicated seed fund.”

A key issue to be addressed was the small scale of the individual enterprises and the fragmentation of the industry. “There are lots of small fragmented digital content producers scattered around the regions”, McElroy says. “We wanted to help them grow, collaborate and compete for bigger jobs by giving them knowledge and skills and helping them collaborate to get those bigger contracts.”

The research element identified the skills gaps which existed in the industry. “We compiled reports on the five sub-sectors targeted by the programme and the results informed us of where the skills gaps were and how we could address them.”

In all, £1.3 million was invested in skills training across a mix of programmes. “We had everything from half-day workshops to five-day continuing professional-development programmes, where participants got exposure to global leaders in different areas. We had 15 international industry leaders who came and gave tips and insights on how to build a successful digital content business. We also ran a number of post-graduate modules in colleges and universities which were free of charge for Honeycomb programme participants.”

The six post-graduate modules covered leadership in the creative industries, developing creative entrepreneurs, copyright and the information society, game music composition, exploring transmedia production and working with location sound.

In addition, 82 e-learning courses were made available on thehoneycomb.net while 650 people took part in 48 continuing professional development courses.

Another element was the targeting of 14-16 year old second-level school students to explain the industry to them. “They don’t realise the various roles there are in the digital content sector and we developed the creativeme.co website to explain the industry to them and the opportunities it presents.”

The creativeme site offers a range of e-learning materials, an ingenious interactive game and online interviews with a range of industry professionals, including a Hollywood film makers, broadcasters, a musician, broadcasters and singer songwriter Andrew WK.

There was an element of cross-over between the skills development and networking themes. “We helped businesses compete for public sector contracts,” McElroy adds. “In some cases the business owner or freelance involved had never tendered before simply because they didn’t know how to or weren’t aware that they could. We provided training from experts as well as a tender alert service. We also helped companies collaborate on tenders where the contract size might have been too big for them to pitch for individually.

“Overall, we helped participant businesses secure about £400,000 worth of contracts as a result. For example, we helped Derry firm Modern Democracy secure a £100,000 contract in Britain.”

Some 120 networking and business support events were held during the programme. These included visits to eight international events including Unite 3D in Seattle, SxSW in Austin, Texas, and 12 trade shows and conferences including the Web Summit in Dublin, goNORTH in Inverness and Sound & Vision in Norwich.

“International trade events like SxSW and Unite 3D offer great opportunities to network with people from across the globe. We sent delegations to those conferences as well as to the Web Summit in Dublin and other events and people are already collaborating as a result.”

Total funding of £235,000 from the Honeypot seed fund was made available for 37 projects. Funding of up to £5,000 was available to help digital content freelancers and companies to further establish the commercial potential of a concept and more fully develop and test their ideas.

The Honeypot Captivate awards of up to £20,000 a project were available to digital content creators who wished to collaborate with another sector outside of digital content such as health, tourism or big data.

“We supported a number of very interesting projects under the Captivate Awards,” McElroy says. “One involved Modern Democracy to examine the potential impact of digital technology on the modern electoral process. Another saw a product designer working with oncologist in the development of an app to help people diagnosed with cancer get the information they need about their condition. Everyone absorbs information differently. The app adapts to the user and their cancer. We also helped The Lost Brothers distribute their fourth album.”

McElroy believes the programme’s benefits will continue to be felt across the industry. “The activity will continue”, she says. “The networks are sufficiently well developed now and will continue. All of Honeycomb’s interactions were based on research and contact with the sector and this helped ensure their last impact.

“We worked with the industry and with existing networks rather than competing with them and that helped underpin the success of the programme. We would like to look at carrying on the work through a second Honeycomb programme. The networks we have established will still be there and would provide an excellent foundation for future work with the sector.

“We are keen to continue the brand but we will have to find new sources of funding. The industry reacted very well to the programme because it enhanced existing skills and networks.”