Digital media industry set to boom

The Digital Media industry will be a multibillion pound market and create over 100,000 jobs within 10 years, according the latest survey.

The survey, called 'Recommendations for Growth: UK Digital Media', was sponsored by the DTI, Channel 4, and the Arts Council of England. It predicts the digital media market will reach revenues of over £4bn by 2007.

The report's recommendations include a single body to represent the digital industry, and the creation of a public/private partnership aimed at developing and commissioning new work for a specific area on the Web, taking care of new talent and investing in the grassroots.

Trade minister, Peter Mandelson, said recently: "My vision for the UK is quite simple: to be Europe's digital laboratory." Frank Boyd, chair of the Digital Media Alliance Steering Group, shares this goal, and said he sees the Alliance as bridging the gap between the industry and the trade associations and regulatory bodies.

Boyd said: "The beneficiaries will be the suppliers of content and development at a corporate level. The UK has already demonstrated itself as a major force in the digital market, but breaking out of the laboratory and into the marketplace is where the problem lies."

The report also warns that without support in this area, the UK will lag behind and end up importing digital equipment rather than exporting homegrown technology.