University News Last updated 09 December 2009
Universities and Further Education colleges are key to keeping the creative industries healthy, according to Erdington MP Sion Simon.
The MP who is also the Minister for Creative Industries was speaking at a symposium organised by Birmingham City University to highlight its collaborations with music and radio organisations.
The Minister said that in the future the relationships between the business and education sectors should be stronger and broader in order to strengthen Britain's creative industries. He said: "People and skills are most important to the future of creative industries. It's clear to me that there needs to be more connection between the output of some universities and what businesses want."
The event called Knowledge Transfer & Public Interventions in Broadcasting & Music Distribution was held at The Bond, Digbeth on Friday 4 December. It served to highlight the work done by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded Interactive Cultures research team in its knowledge transfer work. The team consists of senior academics from the Birmingham School of Media which is based at Birmingham City University. The day focused on ways to ensure effective public interventions to promoting innovation in the application of internet technologies for broadcasting and music distribution.
Among the specially-invited attendees were partners from the AHRC-funded project including record companies, radio and music entrepreneurs, and the international development agency, Care International, along with staff from several local universities, and representatives from the public sector in the regions. As well as presentations from partner organisations that are working with the University, discussions were held about copyright and intellectual property, how knowledge transfer can benefit industry and the role of universities, SMEs and creative industries policy. Professor Tim Wall who led the project and chaired the event said: "I think everyone felt the event was very worthwhile. It was very rewarding to hear how beneficial our contributions had been to our partners in business and the community, and to be involved in such stimulating discussions about this key sector of our local economy".