Barnsley and the surrounding region is home to an array of innovative and growing companies in the Creative and Digital industries sector. This sector is one of the fastest growing in the region, as strong commercial and public / private partnerships, a highly skilled workforce, first class communication links and premises offer businesses key advantages.

The Barnsley Centre for Digital Specialism is a new facility in the centre of Barnsley and is partnered by Barnsley College and Fujitsu-Siemens. The centre provides a range of skills development activities focusing on e-commerce, e-marketing, web services and media technologies and a range of tailored provisions for small to medium sized businesses.

Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre (BBIC) supports the development of SME’s and is currently home to 12 software/ IT support businesses. It is also home to Side Effects, a leading edge multi-media post-production facility with Silicon Graphics hardware and Discreet Smoke software, which has achieved Apple accreditation.

Work will soon be underway on a £9.7 million Digital Media Centre (DMC) in Barnsley town centre. The development will be a regional showcase of building design, energy efficiency, security and operational effectiveness based upon application of technology.

The DMC will provide a high specification business environment comprising 113 business units, conference and meeting facilities, a technology showcase area and an internet cafe. Almost 4,000 sq. metres of space is to be developed which will offer tailored facilities for creative and digital companies as well as incubation space and metoring and business support to new enterprises.

The proactive focus on the digital industries cluster will ensure that the South Yorkshire region continues to be a place in which businesses can thrive - be it through access to highly skilled labour, increased awareness of the region's strengths and networks or the continued exploitation of new technologies and academic research in new product development by regional businesses.