UK@SXSW 2013

UKTI’s Interactive trade mission to SXSW 2013 is taking place between 7 – 12 March 2013 in Austin, Texas.

SXSW is a cross-sectoral creative and interactive event featuring digital, film and music and UKTI’s activity there is designed to help the UK’s tech and creative companies connect successfully with potential business partners, launch and promote their products and acts and increase their export sales.

The tech mission will enable companies to experience all the key aspects and events of SXSW Interactive alongside a suite of exclusive bespoke activities designed to help participants get the very best out of this important trade events.

The trip offers a unique opportunity for UK digital firms to meet the broadest possible audience from the US digital industry, and from across the globe.

One of highlights of UKTI’s activity is UK Demo Day, where a number of UK companies are able to showcase their new product or service to an audience of potential buyers, partners and investors from the US and across the globe.

We’ll be publicising photos from the event on our flickr channel at www.flickr.com/ukti

Find out what people are saying about SXSW on Twitter by following @UKTIatSXSWi and using the hashtags #UKatSXSW and #SXSW.

If you’d like to express early interest in taking part next year, please contact Philippa McEvoy at philippa.mcevoy@ukti.gsi.gov.uk.

Facts about the UK’s Creative Industries

• The Creative Industries generate about £70,000 every minute for the UK economy.

• UK has one of the world’s largest and most successful creative industries which are worth over £36billion a year at the latest count.

• UKTI’s Tech City Investment Organisation attracted 37 companies to the area in 2011/12 including inward investors such as Google and Yammer.

Digital/Interactive

• The UK is Europe’s largest mobile content market, with over £1 billion spent on mobile applications, content and services each year.

• The London 2012 Games were the first ever social media Games – with London2012.com becoming one of the most visited sports websites in the world with 431 million visits, 109 million unique users, 15 million app downloads and 4.73 billion page views. An estimated 4 billion spectators viewed the Games worldwide.

• The UK is Eurorpe’s largest market for MP3 players, digital music downloads, plat panel TVs and video games.

• The UK has the highest levels of online retail sales in Europe.

Film

• The Government has announced tax reliefs, targeted at animation, high-end TV and video games as part of its ambition to make the UK the technology centre of Europe. The reliefs will help support technological innovation and ensure that creative industries continue to contribute to economic growth and British culture.

TV

• UK television exports rose by 9% in 2011 to hit £1.48 billion. Sales to the USA, the UK’s largest export market, grew by 6% to £555m, highlighting the increasing US interest in UK television.

Music

• UK is the world’s fourth largest music market (estimated to be worth c£3.8bn a year) and one of only two net exporters of music globally accounting for almost 12.6% of global music sales in 2011.

Advertising

• UK advertising among the most advanced in the world and global leader in its integration of communication channels and digital innovation.

• The UK is the fifth largest market for advertising in the world and is consistently in the top two most-awarded countries for creative advertising.

Publishing

• The UK’s world-class literary heritage drives not only a thriving book trade but also seeds creativity into other sectors like film, television and theatre. Many successful British books have been turned into internationally acclaimed films, games or stage shows such as Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Games

• The UK has the fifth largest games development sector globally in terms of revenue and the largest in Europe, contributing some £1bn to UK GDP.

• 95% of games developers export at least some of their products.