The Creative Economy is Dead, Long Live Creativity!

A lot has happened and changed since Christoph Weckerle and Michael Söndermann 2003 (1) created the term “creative economy” in the 1990s, or the first empirical record of this previously little-researched branch of industry in Switzerland.

In their study, Weckerle and Söndermann defined the term “creative economy” as follows: 

“... focuses on creative businesses in the private sector. These are companies that deal with the artistic / creative production, their mediation and / or media distribution of corresponding goods and services on a commercial basis. In a selection of culture-related branches of industry, the ‘music industry’, ‘literature / book market’, the "art market", the ‘film industry’, the ‘performing arts’, the ‘design economy’ and ‘architecture’ thus become "the creative economy in the narrower sense’ summarized. These areas are supplemented by the ‘creative economy in a broader sense.’ Therefore, parts of the music industry are unthinkable without the record industry. The film industry is also heavily influenced by TV productions and broadcasting companies. The cultural enterprises in the broader sense only provide economic activities that are culturally relevant in part. From an economic point of view, this segmentation corresponds to an industry reality.” (2)

It was a different time. On one hand, creative people became clearer and more conscious of their influence, their status and their contribution to the overall economy, and thus gained self-confidence. On the other hand, politics discovered the added value generated by the creative economy. Further studies on the creative economy were then carried out and published not only in Zurich, but also in Basel and other cities and cantons, both in Switzerland and internationally, which supported their importance in various ways.

In the third Zurich Creative Industry Report (3) by Christoph Weckerle and Hubert Theler from 2010, the term “creative economy” finally established itself in line with international developments, although I have so far found no conclusive explanation of how the creative economy differ from creative industries, except in the spirit of the times. 

But what has remained the same over the years and hiding behind all the special terms is that the idea of ​​a community—a group with the same characteristics and goals - has, in practice, not become established. The interests and needs of the combined industry groups and actors are too different, their composition and fields of activity too heterogeneous. This can be seen not only in the unsuccessful attempts to create a common voice and a common political agenda, but also in the difficulty of creating suitable funding instruments and standards.

But what has prevailed is the fact that creativity plays a role in all successful companies and is the basis of this. The ability to reinvent itself over and over again, to recognize and create new demands of consumers. Swiss companies can hardly survive any other way in our highly competitive economic environment. In order for the price to work, Swiss companies are often at the top end of the scale in terms of their cost structure. But when it comes to innovation, optimization, quality and reliability, Switzerland plays into the hands of necessary creativity, whether it be in the watchmaking industry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial design or the food industry. 

Let's say goodbye to the art terms "creative economy" and "creative industries" and the associated constraints, and let's turn to the general creativity of every individual. Moving from the promotion of industries and actors to the broadest possible promotion of creativity, creative thinking, critical thinking from the youngest years, starting in kindergarten and well into work life. Because another distinction of creativity is that there is no telling where it comes from, what it can change. Just think of the Swiss financial sector, formerly one of the crown jewels of the Swiss economy, today still just a reactive and innovation-free zone that ignores customer needs and endeavors to secure its own benefices. Or the tourism industry, formerly an international trend-setter, today complacent about flight shame, encouraging some Swiss guests to spend their holidays locally.

Polemically, the last paragraph, I admit it. And it still helps to make it clear that creativity is not the exclusive possession of some more or less randomly merged industries and their actors but is part of the armament of all economic and social creation and action. And when I add global challenges such as combating poverty, increasing education, women's rights, health care, clean water, healthy food and climate change, it ultimately becomes clear that creativity is one of the key skills for further, just and global development of mankind.

The creative economy is dead, long live creativity!

References

(1) «Zweiter Zürcher Kreativwirtschaftsbericht»: Klaus, P.; Bentz, D.; Hofstetter, C. - 2008

(2) «Kreativwirtschaft Zürich Studie I: Der privatwirtschaftliche Teil des kulturellen Sektors im Kanton Zürich»: Weckerle, C.; Söndermann, M. - 2005

(3) «Dritter Kreativwirtschaftsbericht Zürich: Die Bedeutung der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft für den Standort Zürich»: Weckerle, C.; Theler, H. - 2010