Media Cymru is a world-first: a £50m strategic funding programme centered on making the inventive industries of CCR a world chief in innovation. However what does that imply, and what is going to it appear like?
We spoke with Justin Lewis, Professor of Communication & Inventive Industries at Cardiff College of Journalism, Media & Tradition , and Director of Clwstwr, about this exceptional enterprise and his function because the Director of Media Cymru…
“There are numerous totally different dimensions and potential outcomes to Media Cymru, however for me, it’s in the end the possibility to construct a really totally different sort of inventive financial system to anyplace else on the earth.
On a world degree, the inventive financial system is dominated by very massive conglomerates who management enormous quantities of knowledge and mental property (IP) – and that permits them to plan and innovate the ‘what’s subsequent?’
We’re totally different right here in Wales. Like different European inventive clusters, our inventive financial system is made up of small corporations and freelancers. That brings a sure sort of power, as a result of small enterprises are nimble, agile and adaptable, linked to their communities – and pay taxes that keep within the native financial system. So, it’s maybe no shock that our business has loved such success over the past 10 years.
However we’re in a world of digital disruption the place we merely can’t stand nonetheless. To outlive and prosper, we have to innovate. So, for me, that is all about creating an ecosystem that permits small to be stunning on a sustainable degree – giving our enterprises the reward of time to analysis, develop and innovate, moderately than scrabbling from one fee to the following. That’s a key function of Media Cymru: serving to our inventive companies by supporting their concepts and serving to develop them for the market.
An ecosystem that empowers small to be stunning
For example of the potential, Goggleminds got here to Clwstwr with an thought final yr – and they’re now having fun with market success, using 10 individuals. Multiply that course of by an element of 10 or 15 and you may see how we will add tens of millions of kilos of GVA and lots of a whole bunch of latest jobs to our area. That’s what will get me off the bed within the morning – the joy of serving to all our small corporations develop and succeed by innovation.
Individuals ask me what I need to obtain with Media Cymru and my reply is easy: I need us to attain our ambitions of revolutionising the CCR media panorama and securing a standing of worldwide excellence over the following 5 years. We go to Hollywood in March on a fact-find, and I need us to return there in 2027 as a longtime chief in innovation – recognized for who we’re and what we do.
On a private degree, it additionally means loads to me to have a contented staff – and preserving that concord might be one other measure of success. Now we have labored extremely onerous over the previous few years, and I’d wish to assume the staff can get pleasure from a work-life steadiness as we go ahead, because it’s been fairly a exceptional achievement to get Media Cymru to this stage. Benefiting from its potential will imply building-in sustainability for ourselves in addition to the business.
A journey to turn into a world chief in innovation
What am I most pleased with? Three issues stand out. Firstly, once we ran our first exploratory workshop on ‘what’s R&D’, we had been moderately shocked that 95% of the individuals who turned up had been males. This can be a very gender-balanced business, so we realised we needed to essentially change the narrative to attach with everybody and actually convey what R&D is in a inventive setting. I’m delighted to say {that a} majority of Clwstwr initiatives are actually being led by girls, so we’ve got overcome that barrier.
Secondly, I’m pleased with what we’ve got achieved on the funding journey itself. It took 4 arduous months, working continuous with Sara Pepper, to drag collectively 23 Consortium companions and lift £20m for match funding – over Zoom.
It’s protected to say that there have been just a few bumps within the highway, however we obtained there – and exceeded our personal expectations. We began out aiming for £10m funding from the UK Analysis & Innovation flagship Power In Locations fund, so to attain £20m+ as the primary ever funding of its form in a inventive business, implies that we efficiently argued the onerous financial case for a sort of funding that’s usually awarded to the tech sector.
Lastly, I’m so pleased with the entire staff and all that they’ve achieved. Administration is straightforward when you’ve an amazing staff round you – and we’ve got that. We put a substantial amount of thought into recruiting the suitable individuals and rising as a gaggle; and that’s on the coronary heart of profitable the Media Cymru award.
Now there’s lots of work to do. Now we have historically been a ’present and go’ business in Wales – the place the large productions come after which go. We need to change that to be a ‘develop and personal’ financial system. We wish increasingly more of the IP to be created right here – and keep right here. It’s a key focus for the following few years and like the remainder of the Media Cymru neighborhood, I’m trying ahead to delivering that.”
