Fragmentation a challenge for new network

The Government-sponsored TSB, charged with driving innovation in the UK, says that the diversity and fragmentation of the design, film, advertising, gaming and architecture industries will make it more difficult for the KTN to identify key players and get them involved.

‘Its job will be more difficult than, say, the chemical industries KTN, where there are just a few major players,’ says a TSB spokesman.

The role of the KTN is to provide networking opportunities and collaboration between different sectors that could lead to commercial innovations.

The TSB last week appointed a consortium to lead a creative industries KTN, the CIKTN.

The University of the Arts London, the Royal Institute of British Architects, Imperial College London and Tiga, the trade association for games developers, have been signed up to the consortium.

Their appointment does not exclude other higher education bodies or organisations from participating in the network, says the spokesman.

The first task at hand will be to devise a programme of activity, networking events, arranging initial meetings and briefing events, as well as setting up a resource website.

The TSB put out a tender late last year for a cross section of organisations from the creative industries to lead the KTN.

The Government has been pushing the role of the creative industries in boosting the economy through innovation by collaborating with fields such as engineering and science.

This vision has been backed by papers such as the Creative Economy Programme, the 2005 Cox Review and the 2007 Sainsbury Review.