UK's e-learning sector set to grow by up to 8% next year, according to Learning Light's report

Learning Light's definitive report into the UK e-learning sector in 2009 not only highlights Sheffield as the UK's 'e-learning capital' but also states that the sector is 'flowering'.

The report, 'The UK e-learning market 2009', reveals that despite the current recession the UK e-learning and learning technology industry is flourishing.

The report's principle finding is that the UK e-learning industry remains robustly positive in its view of the market and the prospect for continuing growth. Using financial modelling and third party research, the report suggests that the annual size of the UK e-learning industry is currently between £300m and £450m; with growth rates forecast of between 6.7% and 8%.

The report is available online.

Isn't it great to hear some good news and just in time for the New Year!

Upcoming Events - Accidental Leaders and Managers & Creative Networks

Accidental Leaders and Managers

Hyper Island, widely regarded as the 'Oxbridge of Digital Media Training', has teamed up with Inspiral to bring their unique brand of management training programmes to yorkshire in early 2010. The Accidental Leaders is for company CEOs and founders, whilst the Accidental Managers is aimed at rising stars that are now or soon to be in management roles.

Inspiral will be hosting three events this week to launch the programmes. The first will be at Round Foundry in Leeds on 9th December, York Science City on 10th and Electric Works in Sheffield on 11th. Places are free but limited. You can register online.

Full details about the training programmes and launch events can be found on Inspiral's website or get in touch with kath@inspiral.biz.

The Accidental Leaders development programme and Accidental Managers training programme are run by Hyper Island and Inspiral with funding from Train to Gain's Enhancement Fund and supported by Skillset and Screen Yorkshire.

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Creative Networks End of Year Festive Party
Thursday 17th December 2009

Creative Networks has gone all festive and is throwing an end of year party. There will be drinks, food and live music, with entertainment provided by Manasamitra and Tim Moon plus others.

This event is free to creative, digital and cultural industry professionals.

18.00 - 19.00 Hot Food and Registration
19.00 - 21.00 Entertainment and Networking

Leeds College of Art
Blenheim Walk, Leeds, LS2 9AQ

If you want to join contact the team on 01422 399444 or email Bridget March at bridgetm@leeds-art.ac.uk

Future Technologies November - Web caching, electronic packaging and acoustic-based inputs

Following the disgraceful lack of a 'future technologies' article in October due to illness i've decided to do a random article this month with a few cool but unrelated things i've come across recently.

First up is a project called HashCache and is a great idea at getting web caching to work effectively for a higher purpose. I know lots of people don't like caching for various reasons and I assume it will mean certain sites won't work as well, especially social networking sites, but for countries struggling to overcome network issues this seems like a great solution:

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=tr10&id=22119

It's such a simple idea that just looked at the way something had been done for years and then streamlined it. I'm sure there are lots of examples of how background applications for the Internet have been untouched for decades but could be improved. I have certainly seen lots of discussion related to this around SMTP.

A one-terabyte hard-disk cache could give students in a poor country much faster access to online content, but operating such a cache can be expensive. HashCache offers a way to cut costs. You can't dispute the figures below:

This next link came my way via @jonmoss. Electroluminescent Liquor Packaging - you can tell by the title it's gonna be good! So this is basically packaging that is being used on bottles which includes light effects to better advertise the bottle:

I'm assuming this is using printed electronics technology which I blogged about in April and it is great to see it being used in an obviously commercial setting. It's also true that it's not just the technology that is interesting but the effect that this will have on package design and the new types of skills and thought processes that will be required from the designers.

This next project is called Scratch Input, an acoustic-based input technique that relies on the unique sound produced when a fingernail is dragged over the surface of a textured material, such as wood, fabric, or wall paint:

It's a simple sensor that can be easily coupled with existing surfaces, such as walls and tables, turning them into large, unpowered and ad hoc finger input surfaces, and I love it! How cool would it be to control your stereo by tapping on the wall or controlling your mobile by touching your desk or even your jacket - very cool!!

The project concludes with a study that shows users can perform six Scratch Input gestures at about 90% accuracy with less than five minutes of training and on a wide variety of surfaces. So already pretty user friendly with absolutely loads of potential applications.

Creative Networks event: T-Shirts & Suits - International Creative Industries Consultant, 26th November

Creative Networks keynote speaker for November is David Parrish, international creative industries business adviser, trainer and consultant.

Author of the acclaimed book, ‘T-Shirts and Suits’, David has directly helped hundreds of creative, cultural and digital enterprises to become even more successful through his own particular approach to integrating creativity and business.

With over twenty year’s experience, David’s talk will inspire creative professionals by transferring great ideas and effective techniques that transcend across national and cultural boundaries.

A hugely entertaining speaker, this event will be of interest to anyone working within or across the creative, cultural and digital industry sectors of Yorkshire (and beyond!).

THIS EVENT IS FREE TO CREATIVE, CULTURAL AND DIGITAL INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS

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Leeds College of Art

Blenheim Walk, Leeds, LS2 9AQ

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18.00 – 19.00 Hot Food and Registration

19.00 – 19.30 Welcome and opening pitches

19.30 – 20.30 T-Shirts & Suits

20.30 till late Networking in the Mosaic Bar

If you would like to attend, please contact Creative Networks on 01422 399444 or e-mail Bridget March at bridgetm@leeds-art.ac.uk

Digital Week 09 - events are happening across Yorkshire from 9th - 14th November

Should have blogged about this ages ago but better late than never!

So it's nearly digital week, with events this year being held not just in Leeds but also Huddersfield, Scarborough, Bradford and Sheffield. You can find all the info including an online calendar of events on their website:

http://www.digital-week.co.uk/

Highlights from the many, many events taking place include:

An official launch event on Monday 9th in Leeds by way of a knowledge auction - chocolate money is somehow involved so who could resist!

The Bradford Animation Festival on Tuesday 10th at the National Media Museum, the UK's longest running and biggest animation festival.

Wednesday 11th sees an unusual event called Musical Chairs: Fun and Games with Cool Pink which will debate the effectiveness of digital games development for tangible return on investment.

Thursday 12th has quite a few things that caught my eye including a 3D Cinema Workshop in Sheffield and a Digital Ghost Hunt in Scarborough!

Friday 13th sees the return of the Drum Awards for Digital Industries, or DADIs, to Leeds, with the keynote address given by Tom Loosemore from 4iP.

And last, but definitely by no means least as i've raved about these events on this blog before, will be a Barcamp on Saturday 14th. Barcamp Bradford will be held at the WOW Academy in the morning and the National Media Museum in the afternoon.

All in all an exciting week!

This month's Creative Networks event - How do artists contribute to Innovation?

Thursday 29th October 2009

For this month’s ‘Creative Networks’ – the largest and most well attended professional network in Yorkshire for the Creative, Digital and Cultural Industry sectors – attention is turned to the “worth” of artists and the wider creative community.

In the 21st century, the UK’s economic competitiveness and social wellbeing will increasingly depend on our ability to innovate. A significant part of the innovation process revolves around ‘creativity’ – the ability to generate new ideas, or to restructure and redeploy old ones.

Presenting the facts and leading the debate will be Kate Oakley, respected writer and policy analyst, who specialises in the creative industries, cultural policy and regional development.

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Leeds College of Art
Blenheim Walk, Leeds, LS2 9AQ
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18.00 – 19.00 Hot Food and Registration
19.00 – 19.30 Welcome and opening pitches
19.30 – 20.30 How do artists contribute to innovation?
20.30 till late Networking in the Mosaic Bar

This event is free to creative, digital and cultural industry professionals.

If you would like to join, please contact Creative Networks on 01422 399444 or email Bridget March at bridgetm@leeds-art.ac.uk

Microsoft's "Get on the Bus tour" hosted by the University of York IT Academy

Microsoft's "Get on the Bus tour" is making a stop in York on October 29th 2009 from 6pm - 9pm at the National Science Learning Centre at the University of York. Doors open at 5pm for informal networking.

The tour, which goes to 11 locations across Europe, starts in Milan and finishes in Berlin with York being the only UK location for the tour - a real coup!

The event is free and worth attending if you're interested in:

Finding out how IT Skills are critical to business development and how Micorsoft is driving IT Skills.

Learning how to improve and develop the IT systems in your business.

Finding IT training from a range of specialised IT providers.

Witness top technology leaders present on the latest releases.

Networking with sector professionals.

Feedback your ideas and comments on learning and certification directly to Microsoft Learning.

Grab exclusive Microsoft giveaways.

Seats are dissapearing fast so if you're interested get yourself signed up: