E-Book Overview
The Creative Economy Report 2008 is the first study to present the United Nations perspective on this emerging topic. It is an initiative of the partnership between UNCTAD and the UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation. Furthermore, it is a pioneer example of the work being undertaken by the Multi-Agency Informal Dialogue Group on Creative Industries.1 It brings together contributions from five relevant United Nations bodies: UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, WIPO and ITC. This collective effort not only contributes to building synergy and exploring complementarities but also is an effective way to advance policy coherence and enhance the impact of international actions in the area of the creative economy and creative industries.
E-Book Content
Copyright © United Nations 2008 All rights reserved UNCTAD/DITC/2008/2 ISBN 978-0-9816619-0-2 Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted as long as acknowledgement is provided with a reference to the source. A copy of the publication containing the quotation or reprint should be sent to the UNCTAD secretariat at: Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, and to the UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, 1 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017 USA. This Report is the fruit of a collaborative effort that was led by UNCTAD and the UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and that included a team of experts from the collaborating UN agencies – UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, WIPO and ITC – as well as international consultants. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The English version of the full report and the French and Spanish versions of its overview section are currently available on the Internet at the addresses indicated below: http://www.unctad.org/creative-economy and http://ssc.undp.org/creative_economy ii C R E AT I V E E C O N O M Y R E P O R T 2 0 0 8 Foreword The world economy has clearly seen an extraordinary expansion in the past five years. This expansion has been more broadly based than ever before, allowing many developing countries to benefit from it. Even some of the least developed countries have been able to generate average annual GDP growth of more than 5 per cent, representing significant progress over that made in the 1990s. Nevertheless, this path of economic growth has not yet been sufficient to ensure the welfare and decent living standards for the large majority of people in the developing world. Despite efforts to diversify their economies, 86 of 144 developing countries still depend on commodities for more than half their export earnings. Prevailing development strategies have yet to succeed in generating expected levels of socio-economic development for these countries. The challenge is to find feasible development options that take into account their specific realities and in particular their scarcity of skilled labour, lack of basic infrastructure and very low levels of foreign direct investment. How to promote development that is both sustainable and inclusive? In this context, the interface among creativity, culture, economics and technology, as expressed in the ability to create and circulate intellectual capital, has the potential to generate income, jobs and export earnings while at the same time promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development. This is what the emerging creative economy has already begun to do as a leading component of economic growth, employment, trade, innovation and social cohesion in most advanced economies. The creative economy also seems to be a feasible option for developing countries. If effective public policies ar