The position of the Maltese Islands in the growing industry.

1. Carlo Donzella
A 'Digital Kitchen' for the Mediterranean:
what role for Malta? A SWOT analysis by
a knowledgeable outsider

2. MY PERSONAL CASE
After 4 years in Brussels and 10 years in UK, in
2008, following Malta‟s adoption of Euro, I elected
Malta to be the base of my European activities as
an entrepreneur in digital business and
technologies.
Although most of my business was done « on the
continent », I deem I earned a qualification as a
« knowledgeable outsider » and I would share with
you my personal perception about the perspective
of Malta in the digital business.

3. PART 1
The Global Scenario:
the End of the World as We Know It

4. Facts and figures: what are we talking about?
•
the « Digital » sector is not homogeneously defined by different
market researchers (Digital Media vs Digital Content vs Digital
Entertainment vs Digital Creative Industries vs…)
•
according to P&W, the global value of the media and entertainments
sectors (traditional and digital) was estimated at $1.6 trillion in 2012
•
global entertainment & media market as a whole, including both
consumer and advertising spending, will grow to $2.2 trillion in 2017
•
the digital share of it is constantly growing, from 21% in 2008 to
33% in 2012 and projected to reach 47% in US by 2017

5. Global trends
• convergence of technologies and applications on
DIGITAL platforms
BUT
• divergence of revenue and business models aimed at
exploiting the DIGITAL opportunity
…traditional, long-established revenue models in segments such as TV and
magazines will be replaced by more targeted and tailored models that will
differ widely within and across segments and geographies…
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment & Media Outlook

6. The digital „seismic shift‟
• convergence of technologies and applications
(increasingly extending towords mobile, weareable
ones as the ultimate “everyday life-glue”) on DIGITAL
PLATFORMS
BUT
• divergence of revenue and business models aimed at
exploiting the DIGITAL opportunity based on
increasing fragmentation and diversities of
geographies, cultures, languages, communities...

7. The business challenges of Digital Revolution
• Fragmentations of all value chain communities
(producers, distributors, consumers…)
• Technical, creative and entrepreneurial
multidisciplinarity a must
• Traditional economic, financial and business models
outdated
• New values and motivations guiding all actors in the
value chain (open content, social innovation, etc…)
• Deep transformation of Intellectual Property
• Morphing of Consumer into Interactive User

8. PART 2
Enter Malta:
Which role can it play in
the hypercompetitive
Digital World?

9. Malta as a model for the founding of Singapore
« Our objective is not territory but trade, a
great commercial emporium and a
fulcrum... a free port; what Malta is in the
West, that may Singapore become in the
East! » Sir John Raffles, 1819
Quoted from Raffles‟ diary in « The Honourable Company: A
History of the English East India Company » by John Keay, Harper
Collins, 1991

10. Is this two-century old statement still valid?
OF COURSE IT IS!
• MALTA‟S STRENGTH still is « not
territory but trade »
• ITS VOCATION still is to be « a
commercial emporium; a fulcrum; a free
port »
• IN CONTEMPORARY TERMS, it should
strive to be « a digital hub »

11. My SWOT analysis
Let‟s do the tour of the island
in 20 SWOT items with this
principle as our guide…
CAVEAT: diverse because with a wider scope, but
compatible with the Gaming SWOT of Boo-Games

12. Strengths: SOMETIMES SMALL IS BEUTIFUL
Known, reputed, versatile, cost-effective location for
audiovisual shooting
• “Pilot island”: ideal size for fully-fledged pilots in
deployment of digital solutions (eg Vodafone case in 90s)
• EU-integrated, English-speaking, (e-)business friendly
legislation in Schengen Eurozone
• ICT-educated, multilingual, hard-working, productive,
cost-effective workforce
• E-gaming; 420 licences, 7,000 employes, 11% of
Maltese GDP: 10% of world services for the e-gaming
•

13. Weaknesses: SOMETIMES IT IS NOT…
•
Unattractive size of local market (apart for
pilots)
• Lack of scale for large projects, plans, funds
• Lack of local entrepreneurship and private
capital in the sector
• Lack of ability in attracting foreign talents and
investors (beyond e-gaming)
• Lack of global visibility, no branding of Malta as
a digital hub

14. Threats: 'ME, TOO!' APPROACH NO GOOD
•
Digital Gaming Strategy developing as an unfocused,
underfinanced, overambitious project
• Lack of understanding of the future digital scenarios by
policy makers
• Widening of „cultural divide‟ between e-gaming and
digital gaming communities
• Marginalization as one of many “near-shoring” locations
competing on cheap labour in ICT-related services
• Increase of local brain drain, especially for top creative
and technical talents

15. Opportunities: ATTRACTION IS TRACTION
• Coordinate a round-the-year calendar of internationally
attractive activities, incl. a flagship event for digital branding
• Support and build around the burgeoning grassroot
community of the “Malta Digital Nomads”
• Attract the best international talents and investors on the
basis of selected 'investment-ready' projects
• Favour synergies between e-gaming and digital gaming
communities (and other niches) through common challenges
• Support the creation of a Mediterranean-centered Digital
Marketplace through appropriate online platforms

16. Interview to Joe Cuschieri, new head of LGA
« ...we need to widen the scope of gaming. There is a big
untapped market for digital games of skill that you play
online with other players or against the computer, and social
media apps like board games. It is a multibillion dollar
industry... 80 per cent of gaming is not gambling but
social and skill games. »
Future-proofing Malta's gaming sector, January 13, 2014
http://www.csbgroup.com/malta-news/igaming/futureproofing-gaming-sector-licence-services

17. A TELLING ECONOMIC COMPARISON
GERMANY (largest EU economy)
Population: 80M
Key sector: Automotive (largest world exporter, 90% world premium market)
Automotive industry contribution to GDP: 13%
Employees in Automotive industry: 800,000 (1% of population)
MALTA (smallest EU economy)
Population: 0.4M
Key sector: Gaming (10% world services)
Gaming sector contribution to GDP: 11%
Employees in Gaming sector : 7,000 (1.75% of population)

18. IN THE DIGITAL WORLD, LANDMASS
DOES NOT COUNT….
• Digital is more than Gaming, eGaming, Gambling…
• Digital is more than Digital Media…
• …just consider Digital or Virtual Coins, of which Bitcoin is
the most known example
• how many people know that Malta is the home of the first
worldwide Bitcoin-denominated fund?

19. CONCLUSION: MALTA NEEDS
A DIGITAL STRATEGY, NOT A
MERE DIGITAL AGENDA
Lead, don‟t follow!
Disrupt, don‟t be disrupted!

20. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Contact or follow me at:
• E-mail: carlo.donzella@gmail.com
• Skype: carlo.donzella
• http://twitter.com/nerissimo
• http://mt.linkedin.com/pub/carlo-donzella/0/292/154