White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 1Chapter 1Culture, Creativity and Industry: an Italian model…one of the strengths of our country [is] the culture of creativity, which should make us realise that ourenterprises and work have great potential. And in this new expression of Italian creativity we find theresurgent vigour of a tradition, heritage and sensibility to which we must devote much more attention.Giorgio Napolitano 31 December 2007President of the Italian Republic - Palazzo del Quirinale1.1 IntroductionCreativity matters. It matters in art,science, culture and, not least, in theeconomy. In Italy the macro sector ofthe cultural and creative industries in2004 accounted for just over 9% of theGDP and employed over 2.5 millionpeople. The Italian culture macro sectoris one of the most important in theworld, and we can no longer overlookits overall unity and strategic value.Although many studies have beenconducted since the 1990s, there is stillno widely shared consensus ondefinitions of the cultural and creativeindustry. This basic weakness hasrepercussions on identifying the sectorsmaking up the field of the cultural andcreative industries. In fact the numberof sectors may vary according to thepre-established criteria and the way theyare combined.In the early 1990s, the UK Governmentand its Department of Culture, Mediaand Sport were the first to focus moreclosely on the creative industries.“The creative industries as those industrieswhich have their origin in individual creativity,skill and talent and which have a potential forwealth and job creation through the generationand exploitation of intellectual property. Thecreative industries include advertising,architecture, the art and antiques market,crafts, design, designer fashion, film and video,interactive leisure software, music, theperforming arts, publishing, software andcomputer services, television and radio.”Other definitions are more restrictive orwider-ranging.Among the more restrictive definitionsis the French version, which identifiesthe sectors of the cultural industries onthe basis of“the existence of the reproduction of mass goodsand cultural services through industrialprocesses and communications techniques.”The approach adopted by WorldIntellectual Property Organisation(WIPO) is also narrower and the sectorsinvolved are those protected byWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 14