Edinburgh to take share of £80million to boost creative industries

The capital is set to take a share of an £80 million investment - announced aiming to boost productivity and jobs in the UK's creative industries.

Businesses and academia are to be combined to improve lucrative sectors, including fashion, broadcast and video games.

Bristol, Bath, Leeds, London, York, Cardiff, Belfast, Dundee and Edinburgh are to receive research funding for their creative industries.

Businesses including Aardman, Sony, the British Fashion Company and Burberry will work will academics in these nationwide hubs to research ways to improve production.

The aim for these Creative Clusters is to make better use of digital technology and to drive down production time, while creating more jobs.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said: These partnerships between business, academia and industry will encourage the use of future technology to develop new products and experiences, and boost employment opportunities across the breadth of the UK.''

Business Secretary Greg Clark outlined the worth of the creative industry, saying: “The sector currently contributes £92 billion a year to our economy and through our modern Industrial Strategy we are investing further to enable the sector to keep on growing and bringing the benefits to all corners of the United Kingdom.”

The BBC, Microsoft and Sky are among the businesses involved in the nationwide research initiative, led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.