Dr. Dominic Power
Uppsala University
(and Østlandsforskning)
Kultur og næring i regional utvikling
Norden som kreativ region, Trondheim 4. – 5. oktober
2006
dominic.power@kultgeog.uu.se
Norden: a creative region?
“Det norske formannskapet vil derfor arbeide for
åpne grenser og mobilitet for personer og
kulturprodukter, samt bidra til å sikre bred
tilgjengelighet av nordisk kunst og kultur.”
Norges program for formannskapet i Nordisk Ministerråd
2006
• There is currently a political willingness to talk
about culture as a key element of not just our
identity but also our economic and regional
futures
Why is culture important to
economic growth?
• Culture has been shown to create growth
in 2 main ways:
1. Cultural industries themselves are growing
and employing more people and firms
2. Vibrant cultural economies and cultures
create spin-offs that are vital to other
forms of economic growth
What can culture and creativity
add to the region?
• Creative activity
→
• Creative people
→
• Creative workers
→
→
→
• Cultural industries
→
helps employers/region
to attract & retain
talent
regenerate urban
neighbourhoods
define region’s ‘brand’
create ‘buzz’
enhance creativity,
innovativeness
throughout economy
investment, jobs,
income, exports
What can creative industry add to the region?
Inward
investment and
local Capacity
Attracting tourists
and visitors
Expanding export
of ‘creative
products and
services’
Expanding export of
creativity based
‘traditional
industries’
Creative
Industry
Growth
Dynamics
Building Brands
Attracting foreign
investment and
venture capital
Attracting
knowledge workers
and new citizens
Creative industry and International competitiveness
The
Export
Perspective
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Municipality
Stockholm
Oslo
Helsinki
København
Göteborg
Århus
Malmö
Espoo
Bergen
Tampere
Employees
83225
52173
43695
42620
30218
21245
16970
12655
11893
10998
% change 95-98/99
+33.00
+40.60
+38.02
+7.08
+28.03
+19.47
+23.82
+24.84
+19.41
+13.74
FIN
NO
SE
• Concentrates in
urban areas
• But plenty of
Employment in
municipalities 1999
regional clusters
DK
An uneven
regional
distribution
Creative regions?
What do we know about the characteristics
of a creative region?
 That it depends upon which type of industry
we are interested in: music needs different
things than furniture design
 That all these industries are knowledge and
innovation based… they grow fastest on the
basis of knowledge and innovation
3 hypothetical propositions on regional
knowledge creation
1. Knowledge in regions is created through
various forms of local inter-organizational
collaborative interaction.
2. Knowledge in regions is created through
increased local competition and intensified
rivalry.
3. Knowledge in regions is created through
spill-over effects following from the local
mobility and sociability of individuals.
Creative regions?
Knowledge and innovation in cultural
industries is supported by:
– A strong set of cultural institutions
– State support (where wanted/needed)
– Clustering (not necessarily for cooperation)
in the region
– Diversity of people and activities
– Tolerance and openness to new ideas and
people
– Links with other places and markets
– Strong creative brands and identities
Where do we want to go?
There are good reasons for aiming to create:
• Establish the Nordic region a global
creative hub/region
• To support the growth of (some) world
class creative regions and localities
How do we get there?
• Awareness that in addition to cultural
policy… we need coordinated industrial
policy supportive of innovative and
competitive creative and cultural firms
How do we get there?
Support the innovation and knowledge base
• Internationalise the creative education sector
• Do what other industries do: develop third level research
and industry linked R&D
• Complement creative education with business skills
Cross-sectoral innovation - ‘related variety platforms’
• Linking creative firms to Swedish big business: SonyEricsson linking with Stockholm design firms
• Ice-breaking funds: Denmark
• Meeting places (real, virtual, or temporary)
• Incubators
How do we get there?
“Small, volatile and under-capitalised”
Tessa Jowell, FT 2004
• Give business and entrepreneurial support and training,
open VC, etc.
• Help firms understand what is happening: market
analysis, technological foresight, business model
analysis… help them discover new opportunities before
other industries take their markets (e.g. like IT firms
taking the lead in selling music)
• But make sure to have a focus on international
competitiveness rather than local markets
How do we get there?
Focus on the market (and it is often very
far away)
– Bring the world to us: help internationalize
trade fairs; encourage inward investment to
increase competition; encourage migration
– Bring us to them: support for showcases,
export drives, trade fair attendance
How do we get there?
Love your neighbours!
There is strength in numbers!
Nordic (Baltic? European?) cooperation to exploit
economies of scale and scope:
– Nationally: cooperate on promotion,
branding awareness, IPR and
regulation
– Regionally: linking clusters
– Sectorally: linking firms
Creative Directions report
•
Report focused on policies to support commercial creative
industry products and services, and therein support these
industries at a regional level
•
1.
Report identified 5 priority action areas
Hooking up firms within Creative Industries (e.g. music firm
with music firm)
Hitting the market (Distribution/sales/export)
Creating world class knowledge/innovation
Hooking up firms across Creative Industries (e.g. music
firm with film company) and with other industries
Entrepreneurship
2.
3.
4.
5.
More information… dominic.power@kultgeog.uu.se
www.nordicinnovation.net