World Creativity and Innovation Day

  ◊ At the UN level  (A) Commit and contribute to the centering of cultural and creative industries as a driver of trade, development and national and regional systems of innovation;  (B) Recognize, acknowledge and address the historical, embedded and deeply rooted nature of global inequality, particularly as it relates to the development of cultural, creative and technological systems and their linkages to the globalization of trade;  (C) Place greater emphasis on the social and developmental benefits of the creative and technological sectors;  (D) Galvanize the support to capitalize an innovation fund aimed at financing the development and commercialization of content and solutions emerging from creative industries in developing and least developed countries;  (E) Reinforce work in this area at the United Nations Secretariat to support countries in their efforts to nurture their creative industries to maximize their respective trade and development goals...

There are significant challenges to giving the creative economy the attention it deserves from mainstream economic philosophy .  Two main factors are responsible.  First, the quantification limitation of mainstream economic philosophy tends to prefer capturing the direct returns to economic activity, which may not always be captured in creative industries (e.g. approaches to valuing the value-addition of a patent), and can vary significantly due to access to markets, organizational capacity, and commercialization prospects.  The second factor relates to how mainstream economic philosophy captures externalities , which often play an important role in the creative economy, such as cultural exposure, proximity of varying artistic expressions to each other, and the role of demographic factors that influence creative economy prospects.

The UNCTAD and UNDP highlight increase in demand for creative products , which has been a significant driver of the creative economy’s growth. The inclusion of sports in several definition of creative activities, (for example in the United Kingdom and the United States of America), is probably linked to the demand for entertainment (competing therefore with other segments of the cultural industries such as movies, opera, and videogames). The link with tourism, especially coastal and eco-tourism, is of relevance, especially for many small island developing states where it is an important source of income and employment. Tourists are important consumers of recreational and cultural services, as well as creative products such as crafts and music. In particular circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand-side plays an important role in explaining the short-term evolution of the creative economy , especially in its more traditional activities. The possible post-COVID scenarios ma...

  The creative economy contributes to the achievement of the broader objectives of the 2030 Agenda, with emphasis on the quality of life and wellbeing as a key outcome of a targeted economic process. It aligns with a variety of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , especially SDGs 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17. A universal characteristic of creative industries is that it is disproportionally provided by women and young people; 23% of people employed in creative industries are between 15 and 29 (more than in any other sectors), while women hold 45% of creative occupations worldwide. These facts make a case for support to and investments in the creative economy as a means towards more inclusive economic development and the empowerment of women and youth. However, this would require innovative and targeted policies and measures, such as the ones proposed in UNESCO’s report “Gender and Creativity: Progress on thePrecipice” . According to the report, the digital divide remains a pr...

  The creative economy complements other new economics for sustainable development (NESD) concepts, especially green, blue and circular economy, as well as frugal innovation.  Green and circular economy : Creative industries and approaches offer complementary potential, in addressing sustainable consumption and production patterns of a circular economy. Moving towards sustainability requires the detachment of resource exhaustion from economic growth, which can happen through creatively designing out waste and pollution from standard business practices and keeping products and materials in use, ideally regenerating natural systems. This creative approach goes beyond simply recycling and waste management, but rather puts the focus on designing products , processes and services to optimize their use and impact. This means that when something reaches the end of its useful life, it is re-used, repaired, or remanufactured for another use, or the materials it contains are recycled...

  The first mandate on creative economies came from the UNCTAD XI’s outcome document - the Sao Pauloconsensus – in 2004 . It asked the international community to “ support national efforts of developing countries to increase their participation in and benefit from dynamic sectors and to foster, protect and promote their creative industries ” (para.91).   The Bridgetown Covenant , Outcome of the fifteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 5 November 2021. “ The creative economy has become an important contributor to economic growth and serves as a new prospect for developing countries to diversify their economies and leapfrog into new, high-growth sectors of the world economy towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It is thus important to create an enabling environment for the promotion of the creative economy, among others, by encouraging creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting the development of cultural institut...

  The creative economy (also known as the orange economy) is an evolving concept based on the contribution and potential of creative assets to contribute to economic growth and development. It embraces economic, cultural and social aspects interacting with technology, intellectual property and tourism objectives: it is a set of knowledge-based, and thus more localized, economic activities with a development dimension and cross-cutting linkages at macro and micro levels to the overall economy. There is not a single definition of creative economy, and the different definitions usually overlap. A common characteristic is that the creative economy has a multitude of dimensions, making contributions to economic, social, cultural development and has a potential for contributing to achieving the sustainable development goals.  The creative economy is a feasible development option , which can be realized through innovative multidisciplinary policy responses and inter-ministerial act...