White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 2There is a strong interdependencebetween the cultural and creative sectorand the ICT sector. The latter’scontribution to overall EU economicgrowth is estimated to be around 25%.The development of “creative content”and the expansion of the ICT sectorare two sides of the same coin: thecreation and improvement oftechnologies strongly depends on theattractiveness of content. This impliesthat if the EU wishes to becompetitive, it must look to contentand the capacity to create and innovate.They constitute a distinguishing factorand a real competitive advantage.Europe should thus concentrate on thedevelopment of non-replicablecomponents and not focus only on theICT industry, which can be easilyreplicated elsewhere by emergingcountries, such as China and India,with considerable advantages in termsof costs.c) The social function of cultureThe EU administration’s vision on thesocial function of cultural actions isparticularly interesting. Culturalpromotion is seen as a way ofsupporting the creation of an inclusivecommunity capable of being a factor ofintegration.Compared to other sectors in theeconomy, the cultural sector has anextra value. It not only generates valuebut also contributes to social inclusion,better education and strengthens thesense of belonging to a people.The value of culture is linked to thefact that it is an instrument fortransmitting values and promotingobjectives of public interest. It thus hasa multiple political and social functionof key importance for spreading theEuropean values of tolerancedemocracyand diversity-pluralism.From this point of view, “The opinionon the social dimension of culture”adopted by the European Economicand Social Committee on 15 March2006 is very important. Starting from abroad definition of culture with anemphasis on acquiring knowledgeabout and understanding the wealth of“different cultural expressions”, theOpinion points to the interdependencebetween cultural and socialdevelopment, and argues that aconception of a systemic culture whichdoes not divorce the social,environmental and economic aspectscan, if logically applied to various EUpolicies, “establish a cultural unity forEurope, which lies in its diversity andin improving the living conditions of itspeoples”. The Committee thuscriticises the insufficient emphasis onthe cultural factor in the Lisbonstrategy, the shortfall in support for themobility of workers in the artistic andcultural sector and the absence of an“authentic economic development ofthe intangible” (Quadranti, 2006).d) The strategic functionLastly, there is also a line of thoughtlinking action on culture to thequestion of the European role inglobalisation. In this sense, action onculture is strategic in making Europemore competitive. Firstly, on thegrounds of Europe’s greater capacityWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 47