Birmingham Science Park Aston has welcomed the biggest names in digital gaming to LAUNCH; a one-day conference showcasing Birmingham’s achievements and innovations in one of the world’s highest-growth multi-billion pound industries.

Over 250 delegates from across the UK and Europe attended LAUNCH to hear speakers from ustwo, Ant Games, Mozilla, Epic Games and Google. These national and international companies shared a platform with the acclaimed home-grown talent of Birmingham-based Codemasters and Rare Ltd – the Microsoft Game Studio; Blitz Games Studio, Playground Games and FreeStyleGames from Leamington Spa; SEGA’s development studio based in Solihull; and Nottingham-based Crytek.

The annual future gaming event – the second time it has been ran by Birmingham Science Park Aston – was branded LAUNCH, with the three core themes being launch a career, launch a business and launch a technology. LAUNCH was awarded the status of a ‘high impact event’ by the influential Global Entrepreneurship Week initiative, which has 40,000 events in 104 countries with 10 million participants.

Cllr Mike Whitby, Leader of Birmingham City Council and Chair of Birmingham Science Park Aston opened LAUNCH. He said: “This gathering of the leading innovators in the digital gaming sector could have been held at no better place than Birmingham Science Park Aston. Clearly Birmingham, and the Science Park, is where the digital gaming innovators are launching and growing their businesses. 50 technology companies have been founded at the Park in only two years, with over 40 jobs having been created already.

“As Leader of the Council, and Chairman of Birmingham Science Park, I am very proud of the fact that it’s not just the amount of promising start-up gaming companies who have firmly placed Birmingham at the epicentre of the UK’s gaming industry, but also global names such as Microsoft and Codemasters who are choosing Birmingham because of the talented, innovative and creative workforce. 25 per cent of the UK’s digital gaming jobs are in Birmingham and the city region and we have a strategy in place to increase this percentage so that many more local people can enjoy careers in this exciting high-growth industry.”

A total of 29 speakers delivered presentations at LAUNCH, while 23 companies exhibited at the event. Presentation topics ranged from ‘the future gaming landscape’ to ‘is digital important in the future’ and ‘making games with HTML5 and JavaScript’.

Dr David Hardman, CEO of Birmingham Science Park Aston said: “LAUNCH is not a conference as we know it; it is a gathering of minds – of digital natives who are at the forefront of their industry.  While only in its second year, this is the largest future gaming conference in the UK, and with the significant growth of the industry – especially in Birmingham and the West Midlands – we have plans to develop LAUNCH in 2012 and beyond.

“This event was a fantastic way of showcasing the brilliance being produced here at Birmingham Science Park Aston by social gaming companies such as OOP and Soshi Games, as well as by the leading global brands located on our doorstep.”

ENDS

Press release drafted by Charlotte Crossley at Core: charlottecrossley@core-marketing.co.uk 0121 643 8151.

Notes to Editors
Birmingham Science Park Aston
Birmingham Science Park Aston (BSPA), was founded in 1982 and has been one of the premier Science Parks in the UK ever since. Wholly owned by Birmingham City Council, BSPA is actively looking to work with and bring together the public and private sectors, creating interfaces for people with ideas, people with technologies, people with expertise and experience, and people with money, to drive collaboration, thereby promoting innovation.

The Science Park has a highly successful entrepreneurs for the future (e4f) centre, which offers a dedicated programme that supports the next generation of tech entrepreneurs. E4F is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which is managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The Park has also recently announced a UK first by installing state-of-the-art technology to pioneer its ‘science park without walls’ concept. Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-up businesses can communicate with leading innovators, academics and investors from across the world as if they are sitting in the same room. The initiative has been made possible due to BSPA’s relationship with technology giant Cisco, which has welcomed the Park onto its Global Exchange for Growth programme.