The industry in Scotland

Digital Markets contribute to the development of one of the Government Economic Strategy’s key sectors (the Creative Industries) by growing Scotland's involvement in markets enabled by digital content and technologies.

Digital Markets cover two major subsectors; digital media and ICT markets. Both sectors offer exceptional growth opportunities - for example in digital media, Price Waterhouse Cooper predicts compound growth rates to 2012 of 17% and 19% for online and wireless games respectively while ICT Markets have major markets such as mobile technology and media currently valued at $2.0 trillion.

Scotland has a large vibrant industry base with successful companies operating across the full range of digital media markets including games and animation, broadcast and TV production, New Media and publishing. Scotland also leads the field in Europe for call and data centres and underpinning software in ICT.

Key facts

  • There are more than 500 digital media companies and 800 ICT companies in Scotland.
  • Scotland is home to games companies who have made a significant global impact such as Realtime Worlds (who have secured $81 million of venture capital since 2006) and Rockstar North (developers of the fastest selling global entertainment product of all time, the video game Grand Theft Auto IV).
  • There is a strong broadcast TV presence including BBC Scotland, STV and Channel 4 and an independent TV production sector with strengths in a number of genres.
  • In on-line marketing, BigMouth Media is a leading international digital marketing company based in Edinburgh.
  • The Scottish ICT sector features many companies who compete with great success internationally including Craneware, Axios Systems and Memex.
  • In Glasgow, the Digital Media Quarter at Pacific Quay is a highly distinctive, world class business location for digital media.
  • Scotland has great strengths in its academic institutions including the University of Abertay, who designed and launched the world’s first degree in Computer Games Design and the University of Edinburgh where the new £42 million purpose-built Informatics Forum will create a world-leading facility for the School of Informatics.