Developed by the Creative Ireland Programme within DTCAGSM and DETE, the Roadmap responds to the Programme for Government commitment by seeking to leverage the clear potential of these sectors for sustainable and resilient employment, export growth and regional development. 

The Roadmap will focus on three specific digital creative industry sectors:

• Commercial design sectors (including industrial design, product design, visual communications, Ui/Ux and interaction design, service design and strategic design
• Digital Games
• Content creation (including advertising and branding, commercial social media content, multimedia content for mobile applications and content for emerging immersive technologies

Commenting on the launch of the Roadmap for the Digital Creative Industries Minister Catherine Martin said:

Across Europe the creative industries are increasingly seen as a catalyst in the digital and green transition, inspiring new applications for technologies through co-creation and art-based innovation.The publication of this Roadmap is clear recognition of the crucial importance of the digital creative industries for Ireland’s competitiveness in the future economy. The success of the Audiovisual Action Plan for the film sector is a model we are looking to emulate here. My Department will work in partnership with the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment to lead implementation, in which industry will be centrally involved through the Digital Creative Industries Forum. To enable the work of this Forum, I have committed to investing €410,000 in core funding to build representative capacity in the Institute of Designers in Ireland (IDI) and Eirmersive to the end of 2024. Support is also being provided to IMIRT through Screen Ireland, an agency of my Department. 

Simon Coveney Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said:

The opportunities of the Digital Creative Industries in Ireland are enormous. Research commissioned by the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI) shows that employment in design-intensive sectors has the potential to grow by over 20,000 jobs between 2020 and 2026, with potential growth of €1.4bn in GVA across the same timeframe. Nevertheless, many companies in the target sectors are micro-businesses and accessing enterprise supports and investment and growing a skills pool can be challenging for them. While the importance of the digital creative industries is already recognised in actions across enterprise and regional development policy, this Roadmap will provide the strategic framework and collaborative approach needed to realise the potential of the targeted sectors to drive innovation, resilient growth and sustainable jobs in the future economy.

Minister Coveney went on to say:

The importance of design to the Irish economy is recognised in the current commitment to a National Design Centre under Project Ireland 2040 and the National Development Plan 2018-2027.  Through this Roadmap my Department will progress the development of the National Design Centre which is envisaged to assist market-led innovation in Irish-based enterprises to grow international sales. It will be a key strategic enabling action for this Roadmap.

Welcoming the Roadmap, Minister of State for Digital Transformation, Dara Calleary said,

The goal of the roadmap for Digital Creative Industries is to set out a framework through which Government Departments and enterprise agencies can collaborate with digital creative industries in a concerted and integrated way. The Industry Forum will facilitate dialogue and collaboration between the state bodies and the industry groups to support the growth of the sector, identifying challenges and seizing the opportunities digital transformation will present. Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise offices already work with client companies in the digital creative industry and will continue providing supports for these companies to harness the benefits of digital and to develop and scale in international markets.

Implementation in 2024 will focus on the critical areas of data collection, access to enterprise supports and market opportunities and developing the skills pool.

A Digital Creative Industries Forum will be established where industry representative groups will work closely with DTCAGSM and DETE, along with the Departments of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science and Rural & Community Development. State Agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland and Screen Ireland will also participate. Reporting to an Implementation Group jointly chaired by DTCAGSM and DETE, the Forum will provide the critical interface between Government and industry representative bodies to realise the potential of the Digital Creative Industries for the Irish economy.

To download the Roadmap for Digital Creative Industries please go to https://www.creativeireland.gov.ie/app/uploads/2024/01/CI_Creative_Industries_Roadmap_23_Screen_AW-3.pdf