Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

Chapter 1 explores evolving conceptssuch as creative ecology, creative commons,collaborative creation, experience economyand soft innovation and expands the analysisof the major drivers and multiple dimensionsof the creative economy. Chapter 2 introducesa thoughtful reflection on the linkagesbetween the creative economy and the greeneconomy, capturing ongoing policy debateson the implications of losses in biodiversityand how creativity and biodiversity are a winwinsolution to promote sustainable developmentand economic recovery. Moreover, itpresents an overview of recent developmentsrelated to the creative economy in developingcountries and economies in transition.Chapter 3 analyses the organizational structureof the creative economy, highlighting thepower of social networks and their influencein the distribution of digitized creative contentthrough more flexible business models.Chapter 4 features a comprehensive comparativeanalysis of current methodologies to collect,analyse and disseminate economic indicatorsand statistics for the creative industries, takinginto account new models for cultural statisticsand ongoing work carried out by internationalorganizations and individual countries inthis regard. It also presents a refined methodologydeveloped by UNCTAD proposingbetter tools to gradually improve the comparabilityand reliability of trade statistics forthe creative industries; it is a work in progressaimed at improving market transparency.Chapter 5 deals with the internationaltrade of creative goods and services. It showsa recent picture of global trends for world andregional trade flows of creative products coveringthe period 2002-2008. An in-depthtrade analysis is presented for the North-South and South-South trade of creativeproducts, with a special focus on the potentialfor further expansion of South-South trade,and how the demand for creative products hasbeen contributing to economic recovery.Advances were made in the UNCTADmethodology to process and analyse tradestatistics, enabling countries to generate theirown country profiles on the trade performanceof their creative industries, as is illustratedin the statistical annex. 2 Chapter 6 reflectsongoing work undertaken by WIPO at thesecretariat and at the intergovernmental levels.It also analyses sensitive areas related to thecurrent controversial debates about the prosand cons of protection or the sharing ofcopyrights, and the new trend towards publicdomain and new open sources for thedistribution of intellectual property rights,including a section on the evolution ofcreative commons.In chapter 7 the focus is on the growingrole of technology and connectivity in thecreative economy. It starts by examining theimpact of the economic crisis on digital technologies,and presenting a fresh view on howthe diffusion of information and communicationtechnology (ICT), and in particular themobile revolution, is bringing progress fordeveloping countries. The report presents evidencethat digital technologies and ICTenabledservices are stimulating the creationand marketing of digitized creative productsthrough new business models, and that thisconvergence and digitization is helping creativeproducts from developing countries toreach global markets. Chapter 8 emphasizesthe importance of tailor-made national policiesfor strengthening the creative economyfor development gains. The report proposespolicy directions for the provision of financingand investment for the creative industries,recalling that most governments have publicdeficits and new financing options should beexplored. As illustration, the concepts of asolidarity-based economy and the use ofalternative currencies for transactions in thecreative economy are presented as alternativeways to promote creative entrepreneurship,particularly in the post-crisis period. The2Accordingly, the UNCTAD Global Database on the Creative Economy has also been updated and can be accessed atwww.unctad.org/creative-programme.CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010Scope of this reportxxi