THE DIGITAL cluster will come into its own in 2015, predicts PHIL JONES, managing director of Wired Sussex.

It looks like 2015 will be another good year for the digital cluster in Brighton and Hove.

The value created by the hundreds of digital companies operating out of the city should continue to grow.

The Government’s Tech City research confirmed that we now have the highest concentration of digital technology companies of any UK region.

The internationalisation of the cluster has been a key feature of 2014 and we fully expect that to continue.

We have seen a number of Brighton companies opening international offices with Brandwatch probably being the most active, adding San Francisco, New York, Stuttgart and Berlin to its Brighton home.

We have welcomed international companies to the city from across the world, often as they buy into existing outfits.

A great example of this is Japanese internet giants Rakuten purchasing DC Storm. The international reputation of our cluster should continue to be enhanced by the growth of Brighton Digital Festival as it goes from strength to strength.

I’m sure our stellar digital start-up activity will continue apace as Brighton continues to be a great place to try out new business ideas and find the soul mates you need to make them real.

It is clear that the city’s infrastructure lags behind our digital business growth, with demand for workspace and broadband being key challenges.

If 2014 was the year where the private and public sector collaborated to try and identify ways that those challenges could be met, then 2015 has to be the year when we see the fruits of all that labour.

Both the Brighton Digital Exchange and the Brighton Digital Catapult Centre will launch next year, bringing businesses improved broadband and cutting-edge digital R&D facilities. The catapult in particular will provide resources to bring universities, corporates and smaller digital outfits together to bring new ideas to market.

We would dearly like to see the long-awaited work on New England House commence.

Done right, this and other infrastructure activity can inform and support our city’s inherent propensity to collaborate and its openness to new ways of doing things.

Ultimately, future gazing is a mug’s game and as a city we should be neither fearful of the future, nor see it as something that just happens to us. What is great about Brighton is the willingness of people to work together to actively build a future fit to live in.

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