BACK TO COLLEGE. DIGITAL BUSINESS IN CORNWALL. 22.11.2012

Back to College. Digital business in Cornwall

22.11.2012
Adam Desmonde

Meeting with Stephen Harrison at Cornwall College

Last week I took some time out of work (and my Birthday!) to go back to Cornwall College. 

This was inspired after I got in contact with Mr Stephen Harrison, the course leader of an HND in Games Design at the College. I have always been very interested in the Games Industry and was excited to see a flyer for such a course available in Cornwall. After a chat over the phone Stephen kindly invited me to meet with him and take a look at the what he was working on.

I jumped at the opportunity for two reasons;

1. As a former student of Cornwall Colledge  I was eager to go back and take a look at the recent changes which have taken place at the campus
2. I have believed for some time that Cornwall is an ideal location for digital business such as the games industry

Nigel started by showing me around the incredible facilities he has available to the students before we sat down to look at some of the work they have been producing and the syllabus forming the course. The scope of study includes not just the artistic/creative side of Games Development but also commercially important modules which would help any graduating student to find employment. 

It is incredibly important in a manufacturing industry such as Games Development, in which a game can earn in excess of £315,000,000.00 in the first 24 hours of release, that graduates understand not only the creative tools but also project management, business management and the process of production.

It is my beliefs that Cornwall is an incredibly attractive prospect for any digital manufacturing company. Along with centres of educational excellence we also can offer;

1. Commercial office space which is highly competitive in price
2. A business environment which is competitive in relation to other countries
3. High speed, fiber optic data links currently which are currently being installed
4. Sites in Cornwall (e.g. disused military facilites) which would be ideal for locating servers for disaster recovery use
5. Cornwall has a tradition of Creative excellence in art and design
6. Cornwall offers a quality of life and environment which is surpasses that of many cities and is a draw for creative motivated individuals

It is my hope that we can attract A list development companies to Cornwall as the perfect location to site their European development base and this is something I intend to promote and work towards