Connected Digital Economy Catapult - Monthly Open Forum: May Webinar

The UK has one of the world's strongest digital markets. The ICT, software and digital content sectors are together worth £100bn. The UK's Internet economy is estimated to be larger per head than in any other country. It is expected to grow to 10% of GDP by 2015. We have world-leading academics and businesses working in media, the Internet, communications and cyber-security, and a growing open data movement. We are one of the best places in the world to exploit the digital economy. The Connected Digital Economy Catapult (CDEC) will help businesses and researchers to collaborate and to address some of the large and complex challenges facing the UK. It will provide access to testing facilities and demonstrators, and it will coordinate and link expertise across the country. It is expected to open for business in Spring 2013. The Catapult will encourage new and sustainable ways for digital media and content providers to generate value from their products, help to find ways for whole business sectors to embrace digital services, and help business to take advantage of the opportunities arising from the way information about our environment and physical objects is becoming available in the digital domain. It will be a single physical centre and will enter into a series of strategic and delivery partnerships with businesses and centres of technology. The Catapult will be led by an inspirational chief executive and will work closely with partners that have resources and capabilities that can be used in its operations, projects and activities. The speaker hosts representatives of the creative industries to explore how the Catapult can assist a vitally important sector of the UK economy. This is the third in a series of regular webinars which set out the CDEC stall and give an opportunity for people to explore the direction of the Catapult as it is being defined.