MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The UK Government has pushed its commitment to the UK’s tech sector further by announcing more investment and doubling the number of available visas for attracting global talent. However, there is no specific mention on any of this impacting or benefiting the games industry
The move comes ahead of the upcoming Budget and looks to bring further investment into specific parts of the tech, namely tackling cyber threats and research into artificial intelligence. £20 million is being invested in a fund for public services to take advantage of AI and a further £20 million is going to a training programme for 14-18-year-olds about how to tackle cyber threats.
London-based Tech City UK will grow to a nationwide network called Tech Nation to help accelerate the sector across the country. However, the biggest and most welcome news is the double of available visas for the sector to 2000 in an attempt to attract skilled workers.
What isn’t great is that there are no direct references as to how the games industry fits in with this investment. Prime Minister Theresa May talked about the "digital tech sector" and "technology" specifically which is quite a broad term, however, the investment in infrastructure could be good news for the games industry
"Our digital tech sector is one of the UK’s fastest-growing industries, and is supporting talent, boosting productivity, and creating hundreds of thousands of good, high-skilled jobs up and down the country," Mrs May Said. "It is absolutely right that this dynamic sector, which makes such an immense contribution to our economic life and to our society, has the full backing of Government.
"Helping our world-class entrepreneurs and innovators to succeed is how we lay the foundations for our prosperity and build an economy fit for the future. Technology is at the heart of our modern Industrial Strategy, and we will continue to invest in the best new innovations and ideas, in the brightest and best talent, and in revolutionary digital infrastructure."
