The development of the web has enabled rapid growth in the knowledge economy, particularly in sectors where there is a premium on innovation, such as technology, design and the creative industries.

Digitisation is driving innovation in the UK's creative industries. Not only is creative content moving online, but it is also being produced, monetised and promoted in wholly new ways.

The UK's creative industries and creative workforce grew faster than the rest of the economy between 1997 and 2008. Software, computer games & electronic publishing had the highest average growth at 9 per cent per annum between 1997 and 2007.

As a percentage of GDP, the UK has the largest creative industries sector in the world. The creative industries accounted for 5.6 per cent of UK Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2008. Exports of services by the UK's creative industries totalled £17.3 billion in 2008 - equating to 4.1 per cent of all goods and services exported. Between 2003-2010, London attracted more than double the number of creative industry foreign direct investment projects than any other European city.

Success stories

Mediatonic

Digital computer games produced by London-based studio Mediatonic are in increasing demand from clients and consumers across the globe.

The award-winning independent developer produces web-based premium games to advertise and entertain for leading firms such as SEGA, Nintendo, EA, Lego, Disney and Nickelodeon. In addition to commissioned work, Mediatonic also designs and creates its own Intellectual Property (IP), which it publishes and sells internationally on different platforms, including Flash, Social, iPhone and PSN.

In total, the company has made more than 100 games played by more than 300 million people around the world.

Mediatonic develops its own unique web technologies to facilitate social gaming and analyse campaign effectiveness. One example is its advanced tracking system that monitors games as they tear across the internet, helping the company learn from player interactions and ensuring that it continues to raise the standard of its products.

Commenting on the reasons behind Mediatonic’s global success, Director of games Paul Croft explains:

"Our focus as a studio is creating super high-quality games based around narrative, story and humour that have a universal appeal. If you can create something that does appeal globally, then it gives it a great deal of potential.

"One of the things that has helped us a great deal is the rise of platforms that have a global following – like Facebook or the App store. It means that we can publish a game in a huge range of countries from one or two submissions, rather than having to do individual deals in each territory."

Digital Design Studio, Glasgow School of Art

Glasgow-based Digital Design Studio is helping clients across the globe with its advanced 3D digital technologies. Work carried out by Digital Design Studio for overseas clients includes working with the National Parks Service in the US in partnership with Historic Scotland to capture an exceptionally accurate 3D model of Mount Rushmore, and the creation of virtual prototypes of new car designs for Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

Established in 1997, the studio, part of one of the oldest art and design institutions in the UK, the Glasgow School of Art, has quickly established a reputation as a leading- edge research and academic centre. Boasting the largest virtual reality lab in the UK, it is building 3D datasets and interaction technologies for everything from cars to medical training – attracting an increasing number of customers from overseas.

Professor Paul Anderson, Director of Digital Design Studio, says:

"Our business is global. We’ve got a strong base in Scotland, but are doing projects all over the world. What we’re building for people are digital data sets, so they can be sent anywhere across the globe in a moment."

Pace

UK company Pace, a technology provider for the pay TV industry, has enjoyed phenomenal international success in recent years.

A local success story in its native West Yorkshire and a global technology leader, Pace has moved from number eight to number one in its industry in just three years – becoming the set-top box worldwide market leader.

Offering bespoke products to over 160 customers around the world, Pace currently ships some 20 million set-top boxes across the globe and has revenues of over £1.3 billion, half of them generated in North and South America. Over one third of the world's top 100 Pay TV providers choose Pace for their digital TV solutions.

Chief Executive Neil Gaydon says:

"Pace was the first company in the world to deliver broadcast-quality content to a digital set-top box for satellite; the first to do the same for cable; then the same for terrestrial.

"We were also the first to market with High Definition, the first to offer boxes that can run 3D, and the first to market – ahead of majors such as Motorola and Cisco – with whole home solutions into the North American market. These allow users to watch nine channels simultaneously throughout the home, with the ability to move the content around."

MUBI

MUBI is an online destination for lovers of independent, foreign and classic film; an online cinema, anytime, anywhere.

MUBI invites you to watch, discover and discuss distinctive visionary films from all over the world, through a social network that can let you find a visual gem that will definitely not be released in the local multiplex. MUBI is based in Palo Alto, New York, London, Paris, and Istanbul.

PS3 owners on the PlayStation Network can download the free Mubi app and then explore the library, currently at over 300 films and features.

Founder Efe Cakarel explains:

"Watching La Dolce Vita on a laptop is a very limited experience, and TV is the killer app. Then you realise [that] gaming devices, there are 150 million of them connected to the internet and to TVs."

"[Sony] are entertainment enthusiasts and they felt Mubi really complements their existing content offering with the Hollywood blockbusters."

"It's cross-platform..With one click, you can actually be connected with Facebook. Your activities on Mubi, on the PlayStation, are going to be reflected on the news feed."