Creating Prosperity: the role of higher education in ... - Universities UK

Creating Prosperity: the role of higher educationin driving the UK’s creative economy329. CASE STUDYInstitute of Arts, Media and ComputerGames, University of Abertay DundeeThe University has a central role as amultidisciplinary innovation hub supportingthe cluster of games development companiesin Dundee, and is a stand-alone SkillsetMedia Academy. Engagement with industryand employers spans a number of connectedmodels. Games development employers havea high degree of input to course design, andmany of the local companies were startedby Abertay alumni, including some who havebeen through the University’s Embreonixentrepreneurship programme. The localworkforce also includes a high proportionof Abertay graduates, supporting an activenetwork across the region.The Institute’s Dare to be Digital competitionhas pioneered a workplace simulation modelwhich is now built in to taught programmes,and is being used in professional academicdevelopment across all university disciplines.Dare has been widely cited as a model ofbest practice and brings interdisciplinaryteams of arts and science students togetherto create and demonstrate games prototypesusing original IP, while working in industryconditions and mentored by a UK ‘accord’of games development companies. Over100 teams of five students representing 80different universities internationally enteredthe 2010 competition. The project has a wideinternational reach and has led to a number ofinternational partnerships.The University has recently been awarded £5million to run a business support project forthe UK games development industry, whereprototype games will be grant funded butpart of the prototyping work will partly beundertaken by students and graduates acrossUK universities.Abertay has also taken games technologyto inter- and multi-disciplinary researchenvironments to support the visualisationof complex data and models in a range ofapplications, from cancer treatment pathwaysto police firearms training and avatars inretail environments. In all cases, the projectsinclude psychologists, mathematicians,biologists, environmental scientists and othersinvolved in complex algorithm developmentwork alongside industry partners and gamestechnology and arts graduates.The University has also established a targetedbridging programme to feed back thescientific narrative from this interdisciplinaryresearch to games developers. The bridgingprogramme supports innovation in gamesdevelopment via PhD and post docs developedthrough the interdisciplinary researchportfolio, interacting in product innovationprojects with developers.The Institute is also leading Moving Targets,a research and knowledge exchange projectinvestigating new models for new mediaaudiences in a project funded by the ScottishFunding Council.4.55 The model developed by Abertay is one of open collaboration with industry. Flagship initiativeslike the Dare to be Digital talent competition are run from the university but engage across the UKand internationally, and the institution has piloted placement schemes supporting innovation indigital media companies across the UK.4.56 For years, the institution has been at the centre of Dundee’s growing digital media community andhas contributed significantly to the region’s reputation in areas such as games development andnext-generation digital media. This activity has been funded through a range of internal and externalsources, with the university making a clear and long-standing commitment to the sector. This has alsoreturned substantial benefits to the institution itself, through growing reputation, increased revenuesand stronger industry links.4.0 Higher education’s contribution