ACID welcomes the announcement of the appointment of Joly Dixon as the new Chair for the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SAHIB). Joly Dixon spent most of his professional career in the European Commission where he was Jacques Delors’ economic advisor and later Director for international economic affairs.

Commenting on the announcement Dids Macdonald, ACID’s CEO said, ‘This is a great couple of weeks for the creative industries, first the DCMS 26 point strategy for ‘Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy’ and now to have a highly respected economist leading the SABIP Board. 2 million people are employed in creative jobs and the sector contributes £60 billion a year - 7.3 per cent - to the British economy. Let’s hope that economist Joly Dixon can bring his skills, expertise and leadership to influence an independent strategic review of policy to effectively advise Government in truly protecting and encouraging a significant contributor to the UK’s intellectual capital - the creative industries’.