The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

350 The Network Society
The two new spearhead sectors have vast potential. For example, the
cultural sector generated a global business of USD 1.1 billion in 1999.
This sum was distributed between the following fields (learning materials,
which constitute an enormous business as such, are not included):
Table 15.1 Cultural Sector Global Business USD billion
Publishing 506
TV & radio 195
Design 140
Toys and games 072
Music 070
Film 057
Architecture 040
Performing arts 040
Fashion 012
Art 009
Source: Howkins 2001
The welfare sector, which includes health care, medicine, etc., is an
even larger business which continues to grow, for example because of
new biotechnological inventions and population ageing. Europe could
leverage its expertise in this field, for example in public health care, by
exporting it to other regions.
However, success in these areas in the global competition requires
increased investment in national R&D activities (financing of creativity).
The leading countries are soon investing almost 4.0% of their
GNP in these areas, so government decisions along these lines are
required if we are to succeed in the global competition in the near
future. The most important question is how new public investments
are directed: additional financing should be directed to the cultural
and welfare sectors.
Financing must also be directed to the development of business
models and marketing. Europe, for example, has clear problems at the
end of the innovation chain, which is shown below (in practice, innovation
does not progress in a linear fashion; the factors described in
the figure form an interactive network):
Figure 15.3 Innovation factors
Innovation ➝ Production Process ➝ Product ➝ Business Model ➝ Brand
Idea Creativity Business Creativity