PAC Coordinator Franziska Kapteina recently contributed an article to the Baltic Rim Economies edition 4/2024. It debates the current situation of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) in Germany and the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) as a whole.
The article discusses the challenges as well as the possibilities that lie in transnational cooperation with the potential to strenghten the sector. Explore the untapped potential of CCIs and their role in driving innovation, sustainability, and economic growth.
Key insights of the article:
- Over 1.8 million people are shaping the creative economy in Germany
- From digital transformation to game-changing startups, CCIs are at the forefront of innovation
- How transnational collaboration strengthens CCIs across the Baltic Sea Region.
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As one of the coordinators of the Policy Area Culture of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), I often encounter very narrow conceptions of what exactly culture is and what it can be or do. In particular, the roles and functionalities that culture and creativity fulfil in all areas of our society are underestimated. This is also or rather especially true for the economic sector, where the importance of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) continues to be overlooked more often than not. Covering a wide range of subindustries from music and films to books as well as various forms of art and design, their common denominator is that their economic potential stems from the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. Being predominantly profit-oriented, CCIs mostly produce or disseminate cultural or creative products and services. With a growing demand for digital content, CCIs play an important role in the digital transformation and are at the forefront of many new developments.
The core of CCI is made up by individual creativity, skills and “out of the box” thinking with approaches that empathetically focus on people. This carries over and drives the innovation and creativity in other areas and industries, which is especially important in an ever-competitive economic environment always in search for something new. Having a strong CCS is therefore crucial when it comes to ensuring the constant development of our societies and economies. According to the latest Monitoring Report, there were more than 1.2 million people working in the cultural and creative industries (as their main occupation), of which 258,000 were freelancers and commercial entrepreneurs and 976,977 employees subject to social-security contributions. The total number of people working in the industry, including those working in the sector as a sideline occupation, was higher than 1.8 million.
Structurally, the German cultural and creative sector (CCS) is characterized by small and micro enterprises. This makes it vulnerable in certain aspects. To remain internationally competitive, the sector has to become more resilient and small cultural businesses and freelance artists need better economic frameworks to work in.
In 2007, the German government therefore launched an initiative on CCI that aims to give CCIs the tools they need to establish themselves as an independent sector and withstand competitive pressure. It additionally initiated a network that is open to all players and aims to disseminate information about possible sources of funding and support start-ups in the sector. Furthermore, the 2016 established federal government's competence centre for CCIs has been promoting cooperation between the CCS and other sectors. Highlighting the importance of CCIs as drivers of innovation, the centre promotes the innovation potential of the CCI as an independent sector and operates networking platforms.
At the same time, German actors also have been active at the transnational level: In 2013, Schleswig-Holstein took on the role as one of the Policy Area Culture coordinator. Since then, constant efforts have been made to promote and visualize the German and Baltic Sea Region (BSR) CCIs. The 2021 Action plan of the EUSBSR includes the promotion of the BSR CCIs and the encouragement of creative entrepreneurship as one of the actions of its Policy Area Culture. Recognizing the role of the CCS as a driver of innovation for the entire economy, the aim is to strengthen the competitiveness of the CCS of the region through macro-regional cooperation.
The approach especially highlights the importance of capacity building measures of CCS start-ups. As a result, the current Interreg BSR programme period already funds four CCI-centred projects across different sectors, with two of them being led by German partners. These two core-projects focus on the skill training and guidance for the music industry (MI-RAP) and a support ecosystem for gaming developers and entrepreneurs (BSG-Go) respectively. Along other transnational projects, they showcase the importance of the development of resilient support systems and the resulting built-up of skills, especially business-related ones. The CCS heavily relies on individuals and their creativity and skills, which makes it extremely dynamic but also vulnerable. This vulnerability can be significantly reduced by more secure structures and supporting frameworks. Besides their innovative potential, the social dimension of the CCI is equally relevant and CCIs can even be seen as crucial in driving sustainable change in communities. Projects such as Creative Circular Cities and CCI4Change show how the CCS and its CCIs can promote sustainable behaviour. The past project Creative Ports, led by the German Goethe Institute also contributed to building up transnational networking between the CCIs in the BSR and resulted in the establishment of the CCI contact desk in Tallinn.
In essence, the German approach tries to strengthen CCIs by not only addressing the vulnerabilities of the sector, but also by promoting and highlighting its strengths and significance. At the same time the German CCS is facing the challenge to stay internationally competitive. Transnational cooperation within the EU can help to share the creative potential across countries and contribute to a faster and more coherent economic development. Pooling and complementing resources and joint marketing initiatives are suitable means to increase international visibility. In this context, networks and contact points both at the national and transnational level are also crucial to build up representative momentum and to profit from the mutual exchange.
Originally posted on the centrumbalticum.org website