Creative Industries
Film
Pinewood Studios and iconic brands including James Bond and Star Wars are part of the Thames Valley in this sector of global importance.
Gaming
Home to many of the world’s leading computer gaming companies who have produced some of the most popular content.
“The Creative Industries encompass the best and brightest of UK businesses and paints a vibrant 
picture of creativity and talent in our country today”
Former Minister for Creative Industries Nigel Adams
Worth a staggering £115bn in 2019 and growing five times faster than growth across the UK economy as a whole the sector employs just over 2.1 million people.
The UK is world-renowned as a creative powerhouse with investment opportunities in TV, film, games development, music, publishing, design, and advertising. The sector continues to grow following the launch of a groundbreaking Industrial Strategy deal agreed between the Government and the Creative Industries Council.
Read the Creative Industries Sector Deal here.
Discover more about the UK’s Creative Sector at Invest In Great.
Creativity meets technology in the UK, with trailblazing innovation in many ‘createch’ industries, including Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Digital Animation and 3D Printing.
Creative Industries in the Thames Valley
The Creative South East, to which the Thames Valley contributes significantly, presents excellent opportunities to any potential inward investor – with proven areas of expertise across a range of disciplines, including Film, Gaming and Digital Media. Centres of Excellence situated in the region include Pinewood Studios and the National Film and Television School. In Oxfordshire alone it is estimated that over 4,000 creative and digital sector businesses, generating an annual contribution of £100 billion to the UK economy, are based in the county.
A major motivator for foreign-owned companies choosing to locate within the Thames Valley is the steady flow of talent generated by the first-class industry-specific academic and training facilities across the region:
National Film and Television School – Whose alumni have won 13 Oscars, 145 BAFTAs and 70 Emmys.
Buckinghamshire New University – offering a range of degrees in the creative industries.
Oxford Brookes University – which is home to a renowned Communications, Media and Electronic Technologies (COMET) Research Group.
The Next Gen Skills Academy – a national centre of excellence for the games, visual effects and animation industries.
The School of Audio Engineering – with their global headquarters in Oxford, the SAE Institute offers practical creative media facilities.