Hot 50: WIRED SUSSEX

Regional networks have grown in stature in the creative industries in recent years. Most, such as the Cornwall Design Forum, the South Coast Design Forum and Bristol Media are fairly broad-based, reflecting the interests of the local creative community.

Wired Sussex is more specific, though, with a particular bent towards interaction design in all its forms. Billed on its website as ‘supporting digital media in Brighton and beyond’, members of the organisation cover everything from websites to interactive installations and games.

Working in partnership with the University of Brighton, Wired Sussex offers recruitment services and a projects board to put members in touch with appropriate freelances and suppliers.

It stimulates networking through a programme of events and debates, and raises issues for discussion among its Sussex-based catchment.

In November, for example, it organised an ambitious seminar, Digital by Design: Create and Debate, which brought together speakers from Brighton and Sussex universities, as well as diverse local practitioners, to consider how digital design might best be taught.