Report Hails Economic Vitality of Britain's Creative Industries

Report Hails Economic Vitality of Britain's Creative Industries

LONDON, June 25/PRNewswire/ --

The value of Britain's flourishing creative industries to the economy is now broadly comparable to that of the financial services sector, a new report says today. But without careful policy-making, targeted public investment and a supportive institutional architecture, the flow of creativity worth commercialising may begin to slow, it warns.

Commissioned by the Department of Culture Media and Sport, the independent report analyses the nature, role and scope of the creative industries in Britain, declaring the creative economy to be a 'great unsung success story', employing 1.8 million people (one million directly), and generating more 'cultural goods' for export (worth US$8.5 billion in 2002) than any other nation in the world(i).

From music to gaming, TV to fashion, industries powered by creativity are steadily transforming the commercial landscape, the report notes. By their nature, these industries have a higher reliance on knowledge, information and interactivity in both organisation and transmission than other sectors.

The 13 creative industry sectors are advertising, architecture, publishing, radio and TV, design, film, music, software and computer services, computer games, designer fashion, crafts, performing arts and the arts and antique market. Of these, software (including computer games and electronic publishing), publishing and TV and radio between them accounted for two thirds of overall creative gross value added.

Will Hutton, chief executive of The Work Foundation, said: 'These sectors are all very different, but what they have in common and what sets them apart is that they commercialise expressive value - they profit from creativity, cultural meaning and symbolism. We need better understanding about the mechanisms through which creativity generates value - both within the creative industries themselves and in the wider economy beyond.

"Yet there is no doubt that Britain's creative knack is something to celebrate. The stuff that creates new insights, delights and experiences, that stirs our senses and enriches our lives, is also the stuff that is propelling a larger slice of our economic output. The question is can we continue to supply this growing demand? How we create the architecture that will incubate rather than stunt creative industry growth is a major policy question."

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said: 'I very much welcome The Work Foundation's report. This analysis shows just how vibrant - and how economically important - our creative industries are. It reinforces how vital government investment in creativity is, nurturing talent which in turn creates jobs and economic success. But it also emphasises the importance of other factors such as education, access to finance and business skills. The report is a key part of our work towards publishing a green paper on the creative industries later this year, and we will consider its findings carefully.'

The paper - 'Staying Ahead: The Economic Performance of the UK's Creative Industries' - suggests there are eight 'drivers' of success for the creative economy that future policy needs to note. They are:

1. Demand. The growth and productivity of Britain's creative economy is closely related to the growth and character of sophisticated, educated demand. Early exposure to culture, higher levels of education and developing the capacity of Britain's cities to offer the full spectrum of cultural and creative experiences will all contribute to this end.

2. Greater diversity. Diversity - especially cognitive diversity - is critical to the continuing success of the creative industries.

3. A level playing field. Creativity flourishes in an environment which encourages innovation and experimentation. Some creative and cultural content industries, such as film and video games are characterised by a relatively small number of large distributors. This may restrict the diversity of creative products on offer.

4. Education and skills - ensuring balance and the appropriate supply. There is a shortage of industry-specific skills in key creative industries and of knowledge on how to commercialise creative ideas. Britain's powerful art and design school tradition also needs to be celebrated and developed.

5. Networks - harnessing capacity. Very few creative firms or organisations have the critical mass of in-house skills fully to exploit market opportunities or generate creativity. The network model is intrinsic both to creativity and commercialisation.

6. Public sector - fit-for-purpose public architecture, grants and institutions. Most members of the creative and cultural industries have in some way been helped to develop their franchise through public support and investment. This interaction needs to be better understood, and where relevant reformed. Grants need to be more strategically organised to maximise their creative and cultural impact, and encourage strong spillovers and connectivity between the core, the creative industries and the wider economy.

7. Intellectual Property - a clearly defined and enforced regime. The UK's Intellectual Property framework is critical to the success or failure of the nation's creative industries. The business model of the creative industries depends significantly on their capacity to copyright expressive value. But technological change, in particular digitisation (for example, filesharing and downloading that are hard to police) may pose challenges in the future to how enforceable this regime is.

8. Building greater business capacity. There are many small- and medium-sized creative businesses with the potential to grow, but who struggle to scale up in practice.

But the paper warns that commercialising expressive value is by its nature an unusually risky business. Creativity relies on a mix of informal as well as formal processes: 'lightbulb moments', trial and error, repeated iteration, encounter and networking. Given this, policy needs to recognise the distinctive processes of creativity, the paper argues, as well as promote greater business-relevant capabilities within the sector.

Notes to Editors:

1. "Staying Ahead: The Economic Performance of the UK's Creative Industries" is available from The Work Foundation. Will Hutton is available for interview.

2. (i) The OECD reckons the UK's creative industries make up a greater share of GDP than in other nations. According to UNESCO, the UK is the biggest exporter of cultural goods, surpassing the US. In 2002 it exported US$8.5 billion of cultural goods (compared with US$7.6 billion by the US and US$5.2 billion from China).

3. A launch event for the report will take place will take place on Monday 25 June at 11am at the National Film Theatre, Theatre 3. The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State at the DCMS, Shaun Woodward, Minister for Creative Industries, and Margaret Hodge, Minister of State at the DTI, will be launching the document along with Will Hutton. Press are welcome to attend. Please rsvp to soverell@theworkfoundation.com.

5. The Work Foundation is an independent research organisation and consultancy.

Source: The Work Foundation

Media enquiries to Stephen Overell on +44-(0)207-976-3507 or +44-(0)7966-252724.

---

Profile: International Entertainment