I am a specialist in policy, strategy and European projects with a focus on the creative & digital industries, including cluster development and new forms of innovation.
My services can be delivered in a variety of ways depending on requirements – contractor, freelancer or associate to a lead consultancy.
Recent work includes regional and local authority policy & strategy consultancy. Advising regional organisations on funding and strategy options in the new ‘post-election’ and ‘post budget cutting’ world. Also, writing the final ‘creative & innovation’ toolkit for an FP7 research project.
Previous work includes a 2.5year period as cluster manager for the West Midlands region in the UK, with a €20m budget for developing the ‘digital media’ industries. This included:
- Setting-up a €10m ‘innovation fund’ between the regional screen agency and a UK broadcaster.
- Working with business support agencies to deliver tailored funding to transform creative businesses.
- Detailed involvement in cultural & structural fund developments for ‘creative and research hubs’ – including screen media, serious games, digital media and music.
I am a friendly and intelligent leader, with strong analytical, communications & people skills. I am experienced in managing teams and projects. Prior to my move into public policy I ran a number of digital media businesses and worked on staff in UK television production, including at BBC TV.
I have extensive training in media production, both broadcast and web based. Recent work includes setting up collaborative web environments; blogs and media content to support my latest contracts. I have also provided very recent digital strategy advice to SME’s.
I have a real enthusiasm for the way the latest developments in the digital & creative sector can profoundly influence all categories of life, from societal change and e-health to city infrastructure. I would like to influence the perspective in Brussels to broaden ‘innovation’ so that it embraces a more ‘creative & artistic’ innovation, including social innovation and crowd-sourcing.
Alongside my policy and strategy work I write funding proposals, develop future projects and can manage a wide variety of single pot and match-funded programmes.
My 2010 CV can be downloaded here
