IT / Creative Industries

The creative industries and digital sector is incredibly diverse and ranges from arts-based organisations to the small cluster of technology businesses that are growing quickly from bases in Elgin and Forres.
The sector remains the UK’s fastest growing sector, and in Scotland employment increased by 15% to 84,000 between 2015 and 2016. The sector’s GDP is rising steadily, for example by 1.4% over the most recent quarter, which is greater than the 0.2% increase in output measured over the economy as a whole. (Scottish Government statistics, February 2018).
Median weekly full time earnings across the sector stood at £564 in 2017 – up 4.9% compared to 2016, which was the second largest increase among all the growth sectors. Earnings in this growth sector compared favourably to the Scottish average, which stood at £547 in 2017.
Recent economic evaluations show Moray has over 260 businesses working in the sector, highlighting a healthy level of activity and ambition.
Some 86% of these are in the screen and digital or the crafts/fashion/textiles subsectors – very much in line with the recognised strengths of the area.
As with other regions across the UK, the sector is dominated by small and micro units, with a high proportion of semi-professionals, self-employed and voluntary or unpaid workers.
There are increasing numbers of filmmakers, photographers and artists, and the emergence of a number of creative hubs has enabled the sector to evolve.
As the leading academic institutions supporting local growth in this sector, both Glasgow School Art and Moray College encourage young people to stay or move to the region.