Future of Creative Industries - Implications for Research ... - Europa

4. Technological development relevant to the sector4.1. Digitalisation as a driver on both production and consumption patternsTechnological change represents an important driver of both production and consumptionpatterns within the creative industries. The current influence of technology on this sector hasbeen the effect of computer technology and advances in video and sound reproduction(Throsby, p. 118). The new technology had big impact in the fields intensively using the newmedia technologies based on digitalisation – e.g. television, compact discs, videocassettes andmore recently DVDs – but less in others or even insignificantly in fields such as performingarts.Figure 16: Digitalisation as driver for both production and consumption patterns (anillustration)SUPPLYDEMANDCreation Production Distribution ConsumptionNew mediatechnologiesThe new technologies have also a continuously impact on the demand side of the creativeindustries (Throsby, idem, p. 119). The primary effect of the new channels of distribution(such as Internet and P2P – ‘peer to peer’) is increased overall consumption. The expansionof consumption very much reduces the marginal cost of adding a consumer and the consumerenjoys a much larger range of consumption experiences. One side effect of this trend seems tobe the creation of superstars, whose fame hardly can be explicable only in terms of talent,argues further the same analyst. Referring especially to the future of arts industry, Throsbyargues that Internet as a “locus” of art consumption and the digital economy as an importantdomain of cultural interchange are likely to have large effects on the structure, conduct andperformance of this field.4.2. Changes of the value chain under digital encodingICT and its digital encoding are creating a new, wider, and more complicated value chain forproduction, distribution and consumption (Creative industries cluster study, 2002). Animportant aspect to be taken into account is that even if digitisation arises in many industries,only a few sectors have a fully digital value chain. Therefore, the policy responses shouldavoid generalisations, each industry requiring specific analysis and policy developments. Theimpact of digital forms will require new business models and ways of working and new skillsand infrastructure. Each of these industries preserves specific characteristics, whilst at thesame time sharing common features with others within a digitised value chain. At the sametime they increasingly will share common infrastructures (such as digital telecommunicationsnetworks) and common inputs (such as skills and digital equipment) (idem, p. 13-15).22