UN releases first report on creative economy

ACCRA, Apr 20, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- -- Creative industries are among the most dynamic sectors in world trade with international trade in creative goods and services experiencing an unprecedented average annual growth rate of 8.7 percent over the period 2000-2005, said a UN study released here on Sunday.

The value of world exports of creative goods and services reached 424.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, representing 3.4 percent of the total world trade, said the Creative Economy Report 2008, the first study to present the UN perspective on this emerging topic.

The report said though there is no single agreed definition of the "creative economy" or the "creative industries," they embrace as an essential characteristic the concept of "creativity," which is often referred to as a key resource in the knowledge economy, leading to innovation and technological changes and conferring competitive advantage on businesses and national economies.

The creative industries included in the report involve cultural heritage, visual and performing arts, audiovisual industries, publishing and printed media, new media, design and creative services including advertising and architecture.

The creative industries are emerging as a strategic choice in the most advanced countries for reinvigorating economic growth, employment and social cohesion.

"The turnover of the European creative industries amounted to 654 billion euros (1,034 billion U.S. dollars) in 2003, growing 12. 3 percent faster than the overall economy of the European Union and employing over 5.6 million people," said the report.

The report described as a significant finding of the present study the evidence that some developing countries, mainly in Asia, have started benefiting from the dynamism of the global creative economy and are putting in place tailored cross-cutting policies to enhance their creative industries.

Nevertheless, the report said the large majority of developing countries are not yet able to harness their creative capacities for development gains because of a combination of domestic policy weaknesses and global systemic biases.

Developing country exports of related creative goods, including computers, cameras, television sets, and broadcasting and audiovisual equipment, increased rapidly over the period 1996- 2005 from 51 billion dollars to 274 billion dollars, indicating the catching-up strategies being pursued in a number of developing countries to increase their capacities to supply value-added products to global markets, said the report.

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