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Deputy First Minister presents top awards to the next generation of media businesses in Wales

23/01/2008

"Wales has always produced world class creative talent, from film stars, directors and top fashion designers. Currently science fiction fans around the globe are glued to Dr Who and Torchwood, both made here in Wales."

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport today presented awards to the graduates of a prestigious programme designed to develop the next generation of new media businesses in Wales.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy & Transport today presented awards to the graduates of a prestigious programme designed to develop the next generation of new media businesses in Wales.

The Insight Out Wales programme is tailor made specifically for creative graduates who want to start up or develop a business. The initiative is a partnership between the Welsh Assembly Government's Creative Business Wales team and NESTA – the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts. In 2007 the programme was introduced to Wales for the first time.

"It is a great pleasure to be here to pay tribute to the first participants of the Insight Out programme in Wales." said Ieuan Wyn Jones

"This is a really exciting time for the creative businesses in Wales, with record levels of investment in company development – it is a dynamic, growing part of our national economy.

"But in the past, talented people felt that to get on, they had to get out. I want to see Wales offering its own platform for home grown talent. With devolution and the Welsh Assembly Government, we can take positive action, rather then complain from the sidelines.

"Insight Out is part of our efforts to assist and support Welsh talent to develop and grow here in Wales."

Those who have taken part in the programme were led through an inspiring, supportive and challenging journey to turn their innovative ideas into businesses. They received training tailored to the needs of creative people, business advice, coaching and access to start-up funding. Nine participants took part in 2007, producing a total of eight new businesses.

"The creative sector is highly innovative, using the most advanced technologies." added the Deputy First Minister.

"It has the potential to play an even greater role in the Welsh economy, providing high quality employment. Insight Out is part of our efforts to turn people's ambitions and dreams into reality by helping them start up a business or develop an existing one."

"May I wish the graduates of Insight Out Wales 2007 every success for their future."

Helen Gresty, Director of Innovation Programmes at NESTA commented:

"NESTA's work with innovative start-ups in the creative industries has shown us that aspiring entrepreneurs are most often held back by a lack of adequate business skills. If we are to take advantage of the abundance of talent in Wales and across the UK as a whole – we need to make sure that these individuals are equipped with the know-how and contacts that will help them develop their ideas into market-leading businesses. That is what Insight Out is all about."

Those who took part in this year's Inside Out Programme Include:

26 year old Louise Evans from Llantwit Major recently graduated from UWIC with a first class honours degree in Interactive Media Design. Louise has used the Insight Out Wales course to set up her own business, BeThere Media which provides an innovative approach to developing bespoke digital tour guides, initially for the tourism market, for use on GPS enabled mobile devices.

Neil Cocker lives in Cardiff. The 33 year old has used Insight Out to develop his existing business Dizzyjam. Dizzyjam.com is a website that will allow bands, DJs and other members of the independent music sector to sell their merchandise online with no initial costs and minimal setup. The site will provide artists with a mechanism to sell high quality, affordable merchandise direct to their fanbase.

Helen Grace, a Cambridge graduate, now living in Rumney, Cardiff has applied the knowledge gained from Insight Out to establish her company, Little Dragon Films which deals with the generation, creation and production of fictional video entertainment content for online distribution.

Helen said, "My background is in traditional forms of high-quality film-making, so I'm excited to be developing new projects for a new market." Already her recently uploaded test content has attracted tens of thousands of hits on a popular video site.

For more information, please call Leon Griffiths on 029 2089 8676

About NESTA

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts. With endowed funds of over £300 million, our mission is to transform the UK's capacity for innovation. We do this in three main ways: by working to build a more pervasive culture of innovation in this country; by providing innovators with access to early-stage capital; and by driving forward research into innovation, with a view to influencing policy.