White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 15Ambition 8. Culture and developmentSupport the growth of the Italian cultural and creative industries tostrengthen their impact on the national economic systemCharacterised by the use of information and communications technology and the growingimportance of the qualitative component of products, the global economy increasinglyrequires the creation of goods with high symbolic content, cultural images andsophisticated branding.The cultural industries are the economic macro sector best suited to meeting the newchallenges of globalised markets and positioning Italy at the top of the internationalrankings by country as well as making a significant driving impact on the nationaleconomic system.Key decision 8Boost the widespread supply of art and culture in the country to enableperipheral industrial districts to incorporate inputs of creativity and newknowledge in more traditional industrial skills.Key decision 9European and Italian regulations for the sector of culture and the culturalindustries are extremely heterogeneous: incentives vary considerably fromcountry to country and attempts should be made to make them as uniform aspossible.At present the cultural industries are governed by the same laws as traditionalindustries. But clearly the cultural industry cannot be treated in the same way as“heavy industry”.Moreover, within the cultural industries it would be useful to distinguishbetween artistic activities which benefit from state funding and those which donot.Another issue concerns the contribution of cultural and creative sectors toeconomic growth and the creation of jobs. There should be a focus on the largenumber of SMEs operating in the various sectors. The studies conducted andthinking on the subject highlight the need to adopt competitive and fiscalpolicies to rebalance the market, given that businesses in the cultural andcreative sector are mainly SMEs or even micro-firms which are at adisadvantage due to the presence of big players.Key decision 10Consolidate and give more breathing space to the young cultural enterprisescreated in the last 20 years so that:• the professional skills they have developed can be further enhanced• they become mediators between the various sectors in the cultural industry• they have greater financial solidity and job security.WHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 345