Bazalgette Creative Industries Review

Using the model of City Deals, government should launch a 'Key Creative Clusters' competition, supported by a new five-year £500 million Creative Clusters Fund, to accelerate regional growth and create models that can be passed on to other creative clusters and sectors.

Leaders of Creative Clusters should improve signposting to business support and investment via 'speed dating' events to match investors and companies.

Industry should develop a new careers 'attraction strategy' including a communications campaign, supporting online advice and information centre, and curriculum materials to broaden and deepen the talent pipeline that starts at school.

Higher and Further Education providers should work with industry and the Saturday Club Trust to expand the network of Saturday Clubs – inspiring creativity in 13-16 year olds – from its current level of approximately 50 to 250 within five years.

Government should approve a national 3-year pilot of modifications to the Apprenticeship Levy as proposed by the Creative Industries Council.

Within six months, the film industry should set out firm commitments for how it will support delivery of the BFI's Future Film Skills strategy.

Government should invest £23.7 million over five years to extend the highly successful and innovative UK Games Fund and Transfuser graduate development programme.

Within six months, government should confirm it will make innovation investment available for for cutting-edge, business-led research and innovation projects in immersive reality to ensure the UK takes a global leadership role in developing commercial, cultural and production applications for these technologies.

We should create a new model for a Creative Industries Trade Board that gives industry greater control over how and in what markets public export budgets are spent. Industry should commit to at least match-fund government investment.

Every Creative Industries sub-sector should commit to specific, ambitious support to drive up the number of exporting companies via measures such as business mentoring schemes, export masterclasses and networking events.

Government, academia and industry should establish a Global Creative Industries Observatory within the UK to cement our position as the leading international authority on Creative Industries strategy and policy for, and measurement of, this sector.

Industry should work with a small number of universities and existing creative clusters on a flexible, modular 'Creative Leaders' scheme to cultivate a network of highly skilled cluster leaders around the UK.

Industry and government should develop a joint plan to increase take-up of existing R&D tax credits by eligible Creative Industries businesses.

Government should lead a new review looking at whether the definition of the R&D tax credit captures legitimate R&D activity within the Creative Industries. This work should closely involve industry.

Government and industry should work closely to significantly increase the percentage of Innovate UK's funding going to projects that involve the Creative Industries from the current low level of 2%.

Government should increase the support offered to businesses to protect and exploit intangible IP. As part of this, the Intellectual Property Office should digitise its IP Finance Toolkit and work with industry to publicise it further with businesses of all sizes and across the UK, agreeing an annual target for the number of UK firms using it.

Government and industry should conduct a comprehensive joint work programme on IP valuation to: a) increase awareness of the availability of IP valuation resources, b) map the market and identify barriers to investment, and c) take bold action to address any market failures.

Government and industry should develop a joint strategy to improve data transparency around creative content and thus unlock new revenues and business models. The music industry, tech industry and government should develop a proof of concept at pace. Given the ambitious, novel nature of this work, government should ensure innovation funding is available to support this and develop further stages for other digital content sectors such as film.

Investment from the British Business Bank into the Creative Industries should be significantly increased and matched with private investment to deliver a 'ladder of growth' investment scheme that is regionally-focused and meets the scale-up needs of the Creative Industries.