TIGA says Skills Investment Fund will nurture UK gaming talent

By June 6, 2013 Press Releases

TIGA, theorganisation representing the games industry, believes Creative Skillset’s
Skills Investment Fund will help companies train a new wave of gaming talent
and help to build a bright future for the sector.

Gina Jackson,
associate of Creative Skillset, was due to outline its benefits at the TIGA
conference, What’s Next for Social, MMO and Online Games, taking place today.

Over the next two
years, up to £16 million is being handed to the games, film, animation,
high-end TV and VFX sectors to address skills gaps and shortages. Where the
games industry identifies priority skills and makes an investment, Creative
Skillset will match it.

For every £1 invested
by the gaming sector, Creative Skillset can match £1 from the SIF. It means, in
effect, that the creatives industries will be boosted by £32m.

The idea is to
address skills gaps and shortages, including a new cross sector employer
Challenge Fund, due to be launched later this year.

Gaming will have
an advisory skills council to identify key skills shortages and develop action
plans to oversee the collection of the fund and how it is invested. TIGA board members including Giselle Stewart from Ubisoft
Reflections and Nick Brown from Boss Level are represented on the Video Games
Skills Council and so they will be able to advise on the distribution of some
of this money.

The SIF will
invest in a range of initiatives, from new entrant training to continuous
development for professionals already in the industry. These could include
bootcamps and apprenticeships, subsidised training schemes, short courses and
shadowing and mentoring programmes.

This will secure
the best new talent into the industries as well as train and develop the existing
workforce.

The games
industry will co-invest via a number of schemes, including investing in
training for professionals and supporting trainees via a pilot to be launched
next month.

Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:

“We welcomed the increase in the Skills Investment Fund from the start
and TIGA board members on the Video Games Skills Council will work with
partners to ensure that this match funding money is easy to apply for and
applicable for a wide range of important training needs. It is clear that
gaming is an important sector and that those who make the games require clear
investment in order to address any skills gap that may be a barrier to future
success.”

Gina Jackson, Computer Games Associate at Creative
Skillset, said:

“The
UK’s games industry is world class and we want to safeguard its ongoing success
for years to come. Building on our skills and talent base is at the heart of
industry wide, sustainable growth and the Skills Investment Fund, with industry
co-investment and match funding from the Treasury will enable Creative Skillset
to work with industry partners establish schemes and funding streams to support
games professionals and trainees.””

Notes to editors:

About TIGA:
TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry.The
majority of our members are either independent games developers or in-house
publisher owned developers.We also have games publishers, outsourcing
companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership. TIGA
was awarded ‘Trade Association of the Year’ and the ‘Member Recruitment Award’
at the Trade Association Forum Best Practice Awards 2010. TIGA has also been
named as a finalist in the 2010 Chartered Management Institute (CMI) National
Management and Leadership Awards in the category of ‘The Outstanding
Organisation of the Year Award (SME)’. TIGA is an ‘Investors in People’
accredited organisation.

TIGA’s vision is to make the UK the best place
in the world to do games business. We focus on three sets of activities:
political representation, generating media coverage and developing services
that enhance the competitiveness of our members. This means that TIGA
members are effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is
heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to
their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial
opportunities.

About Creative Skillset

Creative Skillset
is the licensed Sector Skills Council for entertainment media, fashion and textiles,
publishing and advertising, marketing and communications. It is owned and
invested in by employers working in social partnership with unions and aspires
to have the best skills and talent in the world to drive growth of the
industries and the UK economy. Creative Skillset brings all parts of the
Creative Industries together to add value through collaboration on workforce
development. www.creativeskillset.org

About
SIF

The
Skills Investment Fund (SIF) was originally set up in 1999 as a response to the
Film Policy Review report A Bigger Picture. This industry-driven initiative was
originally led by PACT, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Federation of
Entertainment Unions and the UK Film Council, in partnership with Creative
Skillset and is one of the funding streams, alongside National Lottery money
from the BFI, which supports Creative Skillset’s UK film skills strategy.
Contributions are used to directly fund the training and development of the
film industry’s production workforce. Businesses that contribute to the SIF
have access to talented trainees at highly subsidised rates through Creative
Skillset’s Trainee Placement Scheme.

For further information, please contact Dr
Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO on: 07875 939 643, or email
richard.wilson@tiga.org.

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