March 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
This conference focuses on next steps for the UK video games sector, taking place in Central London on Thursday, 5th March 2020.
It is bringing together key stakeholders with senior policymakers to discuss:
- securing future growth and competitiveness for the UK video games sector,
- priorities for policy and regulation, and
- key issues for consumer protection.
The conference takes place with the creative industries emerging as a renewed focus for the Government, and with trade talks beginning with the EU and other international partners.
We expect discussion to reflect key policy developments affecting the video games sector, including:
Speakers
There will be keynote addresses from:
- Victoria MacCallum, Deputy Director, Creative Industries, DCMS;
- Dr Jo Twist, Chief Executive Officer, UKIE;
- Steve Wood, Executive Director - Regulatory Strategy, Information Commissioner’s Office;
- Brad Enright, Programme Director, Regulatory Framework and Outcomes, Gambling Commission;
- Ian Livingstone, Non-executive Chairman, Sumo Group and Co-Founder, Hiro Capital; and
- Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, Director, National Centre for Gaming Disorders and Royal College of Psychiatrists Spokesperson on Behavioural Addictions.
Further confirmed speakers include: Marcia Deakin, NextGen Skills Academy; Marie-Claire Isaaman, Women in Games; Imre Jele, Bossa Studios; Sophie Linington, Parent Zone; Nick Nocton, Mishcon de Reya; Kelvin Plomer, Jagex and Sean Taylor, InGAME: Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise and International Game Developers Association.
Engagement with policy officials at this conference
Westminster Media Forum conferences typically attract strong interest from policymakers. This seminar will be an opportunity for stakeholders to engage with officials who have reserved places representing: DCMS; BEIS; the Cabinet Office; HMRC; the Competition and Markets Authority; Ofcom; Defra; Creative Wales and GREAT Britain Campaign.
The agenda
- Policy priorities for supporting the development of the UK video games sector;
- The UK’s positioning in the global video market - key steps for increasing the sector’s global standing;
- Maintaining high tech sector growth - access to talent and funding for product innovation, new business models and managing scale;
- A sustainable future for video games in the UK - innovation, financial support, and workforce development:
- Latest trends in game design and development;
- Driving the development of video games clusters;
- Priorities for meeting the sector’s skills demand ; and
- Developing a more inclusive gaming culture - workforce diversity, representation in games, and options for policy.
- Data protection law and future game design: the role of the ICO’s age appropriate design code;
- Latest thinking on links between gaming and gambling, and assessing what further oversight might be required;
- Assessing the evidence and options relating to gaming disorder; and
- The focus on protecting the interests of consumers - policy developments, priorities for safety and fairness, and what it means for the games sector.
