The island’s business sectors and clusters have grabbed the attention of one of the world’s most respected business publications.

Forbes has featured the island in an article entitled: ’How Innovation Is Putting The Isle Of Man Into The Fast Lane.’

Writer Adi Gaskell says clusters are a key tranche of the economic policies of most western countries, with the belief being that providing a fertile environment for startups in particular industries helps them to scale up.

A few years ago KPMG released a report identifying the key clusters in the UK.

The article says that the island, ’home to around 85,000 people and nestled in the Irish sea’, is ’attempting to build on its traditional successes in finance, and later successes in eGaming, to develop a number of high-tech clusters and diversify its economy.’

The article points out the Department of Economic Development has invested more than £4.5 million in local businesses last year, building on the £50 million Enterprise Development Scheme that was launched last year.

The work has focused on a number of key areas:

l Telecoms - In 2016 Manx Telecom launched an incubator called Vannin Ventures to support new technologies.

The writer says he spoke with Tom Meageen and Peter Callow and they highlighted how the relatively small size of the island community, and its self-contained nature, make it a perfect test bed for trying new approaches and new technologies.

lMedia - Isle of Media is a public-private partnership designed to support the broadcast and digital media economy on the island.

l MedTech - the island is attempting to grow its burgeoning biotech sector via the Manx BioMed Cluster.

The cluster currently has 11 companies, ranging from device manufacturers to compliance and data capture. It has achieved growth of around 13 per cent year on year since its formation four years ago.

l E-business. This is described as ’undoubtedly the most developed cluster on the island’.

It already accounts for around 30 per cent of the Manx economy, with eGaming contributing roughly 20 per cent of that.

He says: ’The infrastructure that has grown up around the gaming industry, including excellent telecom networks and a network of data centres, have prompted the island to branch out into areas such as blockchain, and particularly Bitcoin.

’Many of the projects are at a very early stage, so it’s difficult to gauge just how successful they might be in growing, and diversifying, the island economy, but one thing that was common from speaking with a number of the stakeholders in these projects was the relative ease in getting things done.’

Adi Gaskell adds it is also noticeable how the sectors the island is targeting are complementary, both within each cluster and across them.

The Forbes article points out the island has achieved a 34 consecutive years of economic growth, with the tech sector specifically growing by eight per cent in the last year.

’0It is now home to more than 200 technology businesses.’

Brian Donegan, head of operations -eBusiness and Fintech innovation at the Department of Economic Development, tells Forbes magazine: ’We are proud to continue offering an unbeatable proposition for start-ups, in particular, technology companies and individuals looking for a career in the thriving sector.

’Continued efforts are being made every day by the department to grow the sector, make the recruitment process for ICT positions as quick and smooth as possible, and to close the skills gap in the industry by developing the ICT skills of our future leaders.’

Forbes says it’s rare to find places that aren’t trying to grow and innovate, but it’s perhaps rarer still to find places where such strategies are working. ’It will be fascinating to follow the Isle of Man story.’

The new Microgaming headquarters is now open for business and is a real statement of intent by the company about its belied in the island. It is a global leader in online gaming software

Brian Donegan

Economic Development Minister Laurence Skelly addresses this year’s ISLEXPO conference