The interim report from this research is now available online.

30th August 2007
NESTA, 1 Plough Place, London

As part of an ongoing study concerning ‘Hidden Innovation in UK Creative Industries’, colleagues at Manchester Business School are organising a short Workshop event for Game Development professionals and we would be very pleased if you could come along to join us and participate in the event. The event will take place on Thursday 30th August at the NESTA offices in London.

The Hidden Innovation project is designed to explore the different types of innovation that are found in the creative industries and to examine the extent to which such innovation goes unnoticed - or is under-reported - in official R&D and innovation statistics. We hypothesise that for many reasons, the nature of innovation in the creative sectors is not well understood, and that the true level of innovation activity in creative firms and organisations is frequently underestimated.

Throughout the past few months we have been meeting with senior executives and industry representatives in the Video Game sector and have been able to construct a better picture of innovation activity in the industry. We now hope to use the planned workshop to (a) gain feedback our initial thoughts and findings, and (b) generate further and more nuanced reflection on the form, extent and management of innovation in Game Development organisations.

Video Game Sector Workshop:

The UK is a major force within the video games development industry. Our interest in the current study is to understand just what types of innovation are going on inside the industry (and just how much effort and resource is devoted to organisation-internal innovation). So, our aim in the Workshop is to consider (among other themes):

• What forms of innovation are being undertaken within UK games sector (innovation here could be connected with creative deployment of new technologies, development of new business and revenue models, roll-out of new forms of interfacing with clients and partners, organisational transformation, creation of new products and services etc.)?
• What are the drivers for innovation in the UK games sector?
• How is innovation sourced, funded and managed?
• To what extent are current surveys of innovation activity likely to detect the types and levels of innovation that exist or are evolving in the games sector?
• What are the barriers or challenges to innovation that are faced by the industry in the UK?

We hope that these kinds of questions will be of interest to you and your organisation and that you will be able to help us in starting to formulate some deeper insights. The Workshop will be reasonably short (but focused!) and we hope to secure the participation of game developers, company managers, and other trade representatives in what should be a stimulating discussion. Lunch and travel expenses will be provided and Workshop participants will receive a short ‘seeding’ document prior to the event. A report will be made available following the workshop and participants will be kept up-to-date with the progress and ultimate findings of the ‘Hidden Innovation’ study (findings that we hope will be of value to your organisation and to the wider design and creative communities).

We do hope that you will be able to join us. If so, please let us know by email (Jason.Rutter@manchester.ac.uk) or by telephone and we can forward further details including a programme and a copy of the seeding report. If you are unable to come along, please feel free to pass-on this invitation to colleagues within your organisation.

If you have any questions or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Many thanks in anticipation of your help - we look forward to meeting you.

Jason

Dr Jason Rutter
Dr Lawrence Green
Professor Ian Miles
(MBS ‘Hidden Innovation in the Creative Sectors’ Research Team)

Email: Jason.Rutter@manchester.ac.uk
Telephone: 0161 275 6859