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The Western Gateway region has an amazing array of creative and digital talent and business. We’re home to diverse aspects of the sector such as the world-leading movies preservation, Natural History Unit of the BBC, AArdman Animation, computer programming, telecommunications (including quantum comms) and publishing.

With around 6% of Western Gateway’s employment being in the digital, creative and culture sector this is a key sector for the region’s continued prosperity and growth. Whilst the industry is supported by strong R&D assets such a the University of Bristol’s Institute for Coding, the Smart Internet Lab, Media Cymru, and Clwstwr Creadigol amongst others; Western Gateway sees the potential to do even more.

With so much evidence of a culture of innovation in the Western Gateway, it is no surprise that this has led to a booming creatives sector. In 2022, close to 6% of the Western Gateway employment was in the digital, creative and cultural sectors, with 79,500 creative, 88,600 digital, and 23,400 cultural jobs.

While the creative and cultural strengths of the Western Gateway stretch across the whole geography, we have seen rapid growth in Bristol and Cardiff. This Bristol/Cardiff corridor, with Newport in the middle, saw 58% direct GVA growth in just four years, between 2017 and 2021. Much of this stems from a thriving film, television and games industry, which in turns lends itself to a high growth screen technology centre.

Our sustainability practices and location in some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world has also seen the world renowned and recognized BBC base its Natural History Unit in Bristol. As well as BBC Wales, Cardiff has Clwstwr which supported Media Cymru’s aims for Wales as a leader in green media production, drawing on environmentally focused media producers.

In the digital sphere, we have seen significant activity across the whole geography, and while the Bristol Cardiff corridor accounts for much of this, we have key clusters in South Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath & North East Somerset. Digital activities are supported by key R&D assets such as the University of Bath’s Institute for Coding, Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab.

The productivity of our creative sector is being supported and enhanced through Artificial Intelligence. With Isambard-AI located here and a vast pool of expertise and innovation, including MyWorld, this intersection presents an opportunity to creativity, rather than a threat.

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