tries to the benefits of growth in the global creative economy has been limited at best. Indeed, there is a danger that when these countries are brought into international market networks, they will be relegated to the lowest value-adding stages in the value chain.
8.5.1 The creative nexus model
Furthermore, in order to positively influence export performance while enhancing creative capacities, effective cross-cutting mechanisms should aim at strengthening institutional and regulatory instruments, particularly to support intellectual property regimes, competition law and fiscal policies. Such a framework can facilitate the following: betFigure 8.3
The creative nexus: The C-ITET model
C-ITET = Creative
Investment
Technology
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Technology
Creative Nexus Investment
Source: UNCTAD (Dos Santos, 2007).
1
2
Trade
The conceptual approach of this scheme is inspired by ongoing policy-oriented research in areas of competence of UNCTAD.1 The model is in its embryonic stage, still requiring empirical analysis with a view to capture how the economic and technological spillovers interact or, in other words, how the so-called “positive externalities� may occur in practice. It should also be recalled that creative industries comprise a vast and heterogeneous group of firms with distinct and usually flexible organizational structures specific to each creative sector (see chapter 3). The model is still a set of testable propositions requiring practical application to provide evidence and validate these assumptions. Indeed, to date, there is insufficient evidence about the impact of the creative industries on the wider economy, particularly their spillovers into other segments of the economy.2
8 Policy strategies for the creative industries
Against this background, the UNCTAD secretariat has been shaping an economic model to assist developing countries to optimize trade and development gains from the creative economy. The basic premise is the recognition that trade plays an increasing role in promoting socio-economic growth, employment and development. Trade alone, however, is an insufficient condition for strengthening creative capacities. The contribution of domestic and foreign direct investment to capital formation is essential to induce technology-led, as well as soft innovation, artistic creativity and technical inventiveness. In addition, creative entrepreneurship can provide the basis for well-adapted and result-oriented market strategies.
ter access to financing, including microcredit for independent creative workers and microenterprises; the formation of creative clusters for sharing know-how and infrastructure facilities; investment promotion and public-private partnerships; greater efficiency in the functioning of networks of local creative firms; and increased competitiveness of creative products and services in global markets. In this schema, tailor-made capacity-building activities to improve entrepreneurial skills and trade and investment-related policies are highly recommended.
In this scenario, a pragmatic way to nurture creative capacities is to lay the foundation for putting in place a creative nexus. The starting point is to reinforce the nexus between creative investments, technology, entrepreneurship and trade, which is named the Trade C-ITET model (see figure 8.3). The rationale is that effective public policies are likely to stimulate private-sector investments, attracting technologies and therefore leading to export-led strategies for creative-industry firms. These in turn would lead to greater convergence between macro and micro policies as a result of better synergy among government interventions and business initiatives by enterprises, including by providing incentives for investments and mobilization of domestic resources. Sequenced and mutually supportive mechanisms would provoke a virtuous circle to optimize the impact of target investments in the most competitive creative industries, identified by
In July 2007, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD set up the Ad Hoc Inter-divisional Task-Force on Creative Economy and Industries with a view to building on in-house expertise in the multifaceted aspects of the creative economy, such as development policies, trade, investment, technology and enterprise development. Frontier Economics (2007). C R E AT I V E E C O N O M Y R E P O R T 2 0 1 0
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