New report optimistic on jobs front, warns of skills gap

Professor Alan Smeaton and Gordon McConnell

New Research Report from CLARITY Research Centre and the National Digital Research Centre in the Digital Hub points to job creation opportunities, innovation and growth  in Irish Digital Media start-ups

A new report by DCU and UCD’s CLARITY research centre has predicted potential growth of Irish companies in the Digital Media sector, leading to greater investment by foreign industry and more jobs for skilled Irish graduates.  It warns that a lack of skills and graduates could result in making Ireland a less attractive place to invest in and could curb the development of the domestic digital media industry.

The report, ‘The needs of the Business Community and Other Actors in the New Media Sector: a Report on the Dublin Region’, estimates that the number of companies in the sector is in the region of 140 companies.

The report is the result of research that was conducted by the CLARITY research centre, a joint DCU/UCD research centre supported by the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, in conjunction with the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) based in the DigitalHub. The report has shed new light on the emerging digital media sector in the Dublin Region and was carried out as part of an EU 7th Framework project REDICT, FP7-REGIONS-2007-1 project 206480. The research is also being conducted in five other European city regions (Amsterdam, Berlin, Bucharest, Copenhagen and Paris).

DCU’s Professor Alan Smeaton, Deputy Director of CLARITY, said that ‘Irish digital media companies are becoming a global force in particular niches. For example Dublin music technology company Muzu recently signed deals with EMI and the Beggars Group, the largest independent group of music labels in Europe.’

The project concentrated on the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their relationship with their main stakeholders, and was carried out during late 2008. Information from a variety of sources was used, including an SME survey, interviews and research from ForFás, Dublin Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Ireland. It also mirrors comments made in the Digital Hub 2008 report and the recent publication of the report entitled The Next Leap: Competitive Ireland in the Digital Era.

‘There are some innovative emerging areas of strength in the digital media sector here in particular, such as mobile technologies, animation and digital video, film and television’, said Gordon McConnell, lead researcher on the project.

Additional Information:
The report concludes by identifying the following business needs in the New Media sector:

• A major skills shortage was identified both in terms of technical skills and also sales/marketing skills;
• Intellectual Property issues were identified both in terms of general education across the sector but also in terms of working with knowledge institutions  (e.g. time-lag, bureaucracy involved);
• There is a need for improved ways of working with knowledge institutions resulting from the differing needs of the SME and the educational sectors involved;
• The sector needs new and possibly ‘alternative’ networks both within Dublin and at European level;
• A dedicated source of funding, specifically for collaboration, would greatly enhance knowledge transfer into SMEs.

The report goes on to make the following recommendations:

• Accelerate the development of the DigitalHub and ensure that it links with other digital media companies in the wider Dublin region
• Develop entrepreneurship modules in courses related to the Digital Media sector in the various colleges and universities
• Continue to develop concepts such as the Irish Learning Alliance and Animation CEO Forum to accelerate development in other core segments of the digital media sector in Dublin;
• An examination of skills development by the further and higher education sector in Dublin is needed and gap analysis should be used to identify skills issues in the Digital Media sector that are not being addressed;
• Create a forum for the universities and colleges to discuss skills needs with industry;
• Organisations that deal with retraining of workers should look at creating a suite of training and education in the Digital Media and related technology areas as a real and current skills gap exists;
• Encourage the development and roll-out of the Creative Dublin Alliance and its plan to brand the city as a ‘knowledge city’;
• Seek common IP agreements for development between the sector and knowledge institutions via Enterprise Ireland and through initiatives such as the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC);

With a very obvious current skills shortage in the New Media area not being dealt with and with rising unemployment in many other industries in the Dublin region, there is a real opportunity to drive growth and jobs in this sector via skills training, further and higher education solutions.

The report can be found here:
www.clarity-centre.com/files/REDICT_report.pdf

Contacts:
Prof Alan Smeaton
CLARITY: Centre for Sensor Web Technologies
Dublin City University
Glasnevin, Dublin 9
Alan.Smeaton@dcu.ie
Mobile 087 205 7105

Mr. Gordon McConnell
President’s Office
Dublin City University
Glasnevin Dublin 9
Gordon.mcconnell@dcu.ie
Mobile 086 8330536

About CLARITY
CLARITY is a unique €16.4m technology partnership between UCD and DCU, supported by Tyndall National Institute in Cork,, and funded by Science Foundation Ireland. CLARITY is a research centre that focuses on the intersection between two important research areas: adaptive sensing and information discovery. Through the development of innovative new technologies, CLARITY aims to contribute to Ireland’s future industry base and to contribute to improving the quality of life of people in areas such as personal health, digital media and the management of our environment. www.clarity-centre.org

About the National Digital Research Centre
The NDRC’s mission is to create value by translating innovative research into commercial potential and societal benefit.  It provides a national focal point to address the gap between research and commercial potential in digital media technologies. The NDRC is an independent, not-for-profit, national, collaborative and collaborating, research centre. NDRC translational research themes are Healthcare, Education, Environment, and Entertainment.