5. The Spiel...
Wired Sussex is an
independent,
not-for-profit
support organisation for
digital, media and technology
businesses...
...we are based in
Brighton
6. We work with over 1,200 digital,
media and technology companies in
Brighton and another 600 in the
surrounding area
We help them access
talent, investment, workspace, clients and each other…
7. We support the largest co-
working space south of London
Home to over I60
freelancers
27. •Between 2010 and 2013, Brighton saw a 91%
growth in new digital companies
incorporated (ref: Tech Nation, Tech City UK)
Start-ups
• Brighton had the highest rate of business start-ups
pro rata in UK outside London in 2014. Also higher
in absolute numbers than Cardiff, Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Bristol. (ref: Centre for Cities report)
28. •Over 1,500 digital companies, growing at an
average of 14% pa (Brighton Fuse)
• Jobs growth in the Brighton CDIT (Creative,
Digital & IT) sector between 2010 – 13 was
38.1%, 4.7 times higher than Brighton all
sector average and 15.8 times higher than
UK average (ref BHCC Econ Dev)
Growth
29. In 2011, value of creative, digital, tech sector
to Brighton was £713m. (Brighton Fuse)
By 2015 further research (Brighton Fuse: two
years on) showed that this had increased to
over £1bnpa.
Value
30. • Brighton has highest concentration of digital &
tech companies per head in UK (ref: Tech
Nation, Tech City UK)
• Brighton is the most connected digital cluster
in UK with 84% feeling ‘part of a cluster’ (ref:
Tech Nation, Tech City UK)
Density
31. The Brighton Fuse research
looks at the scale of the
Creative & Digital sector in
Brighton and the impact and
interplay of talent,
businesses and cluster
The what, the
why and the how
32. Unfused Only focus on either creative
content or technology
Fused Sometimes bring together creative
content and technology
Superfused
Creative content combined with
technology is the core of their value
proposition
3 categories of creative & digital businesses
33. Fully combine creative value and tech value
into their products and services
Integrate creative activity and tech dev into
their innovation processes and company
culture
Very often have founders / owners / senior
management with a background in arts,
humanities and design.
Superfused Businesses:
34. Growth rates by fusion
7.0%
17.9%
20.8%
14.7%
-1.2%
3.8%
8.8%
3.8%
-5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Unfused
Fused
Superfused
Total
Average growth Median growth
The Top 500 digital companies in Brighton (the
‘Superfused’ Businesses) are growing at 20% per annum
on average.
35. Very fast growing
More likely to be innovating with products
and services, markets and methods
More likely to emphasize a company culture
designed to attract, nurture and grow its
talent
More likely to network
More likely to engage with universities
Superfused Businesses are:
37. “It's in Apple's DNA that
technology alone is not enough —
it's technology married with
liberal arts, married with the
humanities, that yields us the
result that makes our heart sing”.
Steve Jobs
39. The way we were: industrial thinking
Standard business support models based around a set of assumptions:
• You need scale to have impact
• You are operating in largely stable markets
• Growth (and innovation) is linear
• Investment precedes business activity and it’s a precondition of it
• You need to be located close to your raw materials or supply chains
40. Cluster demonstrates a new approach to business,
beyond industrial thinking
On the contrary, businesses we are working with are
• small and impactful
• required to be highly disruptive (including often of themselves)
• had low barriers to market entry (and so could iterate using customer
feedback)
• Saw speed to market as important (and so valued collaboration that
supported that process)
• Had talent as their primary ‘raw material’ (and so had to develop
ways of attracting, valuing and retaining that talent).
