2030 and beyond
19 May 2023
Create Central Chair Ed Shedd looks to 2030 and beyond at our event at The Bond
Missions to turbo-charge the West Midlands creative content sector
By 2030 we want the West Midlands to have a creative ecosystem that makes us internationally renowned as THE place to create for any storyteller.
2030 will be a world of IP content, enabled by mobile networks faster than our current fixed networks and by fixed networks offering awe-inspiring speed and capacity, be it 10, 25, or 50 gigabits per second. A layering of media formats will define this world. Video, gaming, social media, digital marketing, and commerce blend into a seamless whole, be that in the metaverse or alternate virtual worlds.
Consumers will feast on snackable subs - £5 per month or less, and quickly turned on and off – and social gaming commerce, where a game player, chatting to friends on a social broadcast feed, will be accustomed to responding to shoppable posts and buying a product without ever taking their eyes off the game they are playing, or the film they are watching. This world will be enabled by a small number of infrastructure players, who will be supplier, client, and competitor, such as Google, Amazon, and Alibaba. Therefore, working in partnership and co-opetition is ever more critical.
This rapidly developing world, where blending creative and technology skills across formats is crucial, is tailor-made for the West Midlands. This region has an even mix of TV, film, games, social media, and e-commerce skills - a positive advantage to companies looking to tap into the skills and capabilities critical to success in the evolving virtual reality.
And it is developing this unique blend of skills and capabilities as quickly and thoroughly as possible, on which Create Central's Shape the Future: 2030 and Beyond is firmly focussed. Whether that be championing an IP Content Fund for the region to kick start creative ideas, clearly signposting the routes to market our creatives can take to get those ideas commissioned and developed, or our increased focus on the games and virtual world sectors alongside TV, film, and publishing, our aim is clear. To enable the Home of Original Storytelling to tell stories in as many formats as possible. Or, to put it more simply, to give the storytellers in the region of 100 languages their voice…
Add to that the tangible and remarkable achievements of the past three years, be that the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Coventry City of Culture, our partnership with the BBC, which is bringing major TV brands such as MasterChef and Silent Witness to the region, or the construction of The Bond, our magnificent new content hub, home of the brilliant Late Night Lycett, not to mention the launch of Digbeth Loc. Studios, Steven Knight's brainchild, and one can see that the West Midlands is in a special place to grow a unique and impactful creative sector. Home to original storytellers, whatever the format and however the story might be communicated.
Ed Shedd is Chair of Create Central and runs Deloitte’s North & South Europe (NSE) Technology, Media & Telecoms (TMT) Practice.