Digital businesses unite to nurture talent

Among the signed-up businesses are Allen and Heath, Absolute Software and Nixon Design, which will all be working with Cornwall College and dBs code to develop a range of new courses.

The project is being spearheaded by Software Cornwall, a collective of businesses who are trying to raise the profile of the digital industry in the county.

Paul Massey, a director at Absolute Software and a member of Software Cornwall, said: “The main purpose is to involve more businesses and employers in the strategic objectives of nurturing and attracting talent to Cornwall.

“We can build an attractive digital sector, building on our reputation for innovation. The sector is growing from strength to strength and the sheer width and breadth of the businesses involved demonstrates that we are all looking to invest in recruiting the best people.

“There is a skills gap at the moment as no one is studying software coding in Cornwall. We need to bridge that gap as we predict around 300 new jobs will be created in this sector over the next few years.”

Figures show that Cornwall’s creative industries have a combined annual turnover of more than Â£250 million.

With superfast broadband and improvements to the communication infrastructure, businesses in Cornwall can now serve clients nationally and internationally.