Value of cultural and creative industries
The cultural and creative industries (CCI) are comprised of multiple sectors whose activities are based on cultural values or artistic or creative expressions. The CCI are at the heart of the creative economy and they drive innovation for change in other sectors. The companies are knowledge-intensive and generate considerable economic wealth. In cultural and creative industries, there has been growth and job creation, particularly for young people.
supporting internationalization
A key issue within developing the cultural and creative industries in the Baltic Sea region is supporting their internationalization. One main challenge for this is the limited internationalization capacity as 80 % of CCI companies are small or medium sized companies, most of which are micro-enterprises.
Often everyday tasks take most of the entrepreneurs’ time and energy, leaving a little time for strategizing international activities. Hence, support in the process of opening up to foreign markets is crucial for small companies. However, even though internationalization support might be available, creative and cultural industry companies often find that their specific needs and interests are not met.
role of policymaking
Policymaking plays an important role in supporting creative and cultural industry internationalization. In order to have better policymaking, we need a better knowledge base to address any gaps in understanding the specific characteristics of CCI, its role in the regional economy and ways to support the industry’s internationalization in various ways.
This is exactly what we are doing with our partners from the countries around the Baltic Sea in an Interreg project called Creative Ports: bundling competencies, experimenting with internationalization tools and exchanging knowledge about well-functioning programmes and strategies. We seek improvements at various policy levels. We believe this is best done together with different actors and stakeholders, such as CCI entrepreneurs, intermediaries and relevant authorities.
join us in co-creating policy recommendations!
Please join us to co-create the best future for the cultural and creative industries in the Baltic Sea Region! If you want to have a say in what should be included in the policy recommendations for the internationalization of CCI, we will host local workshops on this topic. For more information, please contact project manager Maisa Kantanen (maisa.kantanen@xamk.fi). Check out our platform at creativeports.eu!
Authors: project manager Maisa Kantanen (maisa.kantanen(at)xamk.fi) and RDI Specialist, DSocSCi Piritta Parkkari (piritta.parkkari(at)xamk.fi). The authors works for the Creative Ports project, which receives Interreg funding.
This post is part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (#GEW2020), which is organized this year between November 16th and 20th, 2020. The week raises up information about different kinds of entrepreneurship and encourages people to try out entrepreneurship. This year’s themes include #ecosystems, #education, #inclusion and #policy. Global Entrepreneurship Week’s events are organized as part of fully digital digiSYKE working life event.