Raising awareness around the wealth of digital content creators based in Northern Ireland is the aim of the business group called Digital Circle, which officially launched yesterday with the backing of both Invest Northern Ireland and Momentum, Northern Ireland’s ICT Federation.
The Digital Circle is comprised of a group of volunteers who are currently working with high-profile organisations including Digital Media Forum, IntertradeIreland, Enterprise Ireland, as well as educational institutes such as Queen’s University of Belfast and University of Ulster.
Matt Johnston, who is the network facilitator with the steering group for the Digital Circle, told siliconrepublic.com that Digital Circle is working on four strands: investment, export, skills and innovation.
“This will be joined by special-interest clusters such as e-learning, mobile/web and possibly gaming in the new year.
The official launch event was held yesterday in the BBC Blackstaff studios in Belfast, and was attended by over 75 representatives in the digital-content sector who turned up to learn about the vital role they have to play in the development of the group.
“We have the talent, ambition and infrastructure to drive success, and now we have a dedicated organisation capable of raising the profile of the sector and assisting in its development,” said Adrian Lennon, acting chair of Digital Circle.
“Globally, there are huge opportunities for our local companies, and now that the Northern Ireland Digital Content Strategy is in place, I feel confident we can take advantage of these.”
While we are in the middle of a recession, the digital-media sector can manage this well Johnston said: “If anything, there is more opportunity now than before. There are new challenges, but the digital-media sector in Northern Ireland was always lean, and therefore designed to weather the test of time.”
By Marie Boran
Pictured:Donal Durkan, Invest NI’s managing director of Life Sciences and Creative; Linda Jamison, Business Improvement Services, Invest NI; and Adrian Lennon, acting chair of Digital Circle
