Creative economy offers countries path to development: Unctad

The creative economy offers a feasible development option to all countries, particularly developing economies, says Unctad's Creative Economy Outlook 2022 launched on 7 October at the 3rd World Congress on Creative Economy in Bali, Indonesia.

Unctad defines creative industries as cycles of creating, producing, and distributing goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs. They comprise a set of knowledge-based activities that produce tangible goods and intangible intellectual or artistic services with creative content, economic value and market objectives, says a press release.

The report says although creative services exports vastly exceed those of creative goods, developing countries are underrepresented and face hurdles in exporting these services. In addition, there is a significant creative trade data gap between developed and developing countries.

Unctad Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said: "The report is published at a time when the global community faces some of the most significant challenges in decades: the Covid-19 pandemic, looming climate change and environmental crisis, geopolitical tensions, and a major cost-of-living crisis. Despite these challenges, the creative economy remains a critical sector for sustainable development."

Creative industries raise countries' revenues

Trade in creative goods and services generates increasing revenues for countries, with services having a dominant role.

The latest available data show that in 2020, creative goods and services represented 3% of total merchandise exports and 21% of total services exports.

Global exports of creative goods increased from $419 million in 2010 to $524 million in 2020, while world exports of creative services increased from $487 billion to almost $1.1 trillion during the same period.

Developing economies export more creative goods than developed ones. In 2020, China was by far the largest exporter of creative goods ($169 billion), followed by the United States ($32 billion), Italy ($27 billion), Germany ($26 billion) and Hong Kong (China) ($24 billion).

South-South trade in creative goods has almost doubled in the past two decades.

Creative goods exports were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns worldwide. Creative goods exports were down by 12.5% in 2020, while exports of all goods fell by only 7.2%. However, preliminary data show that creative goods exports began to recover in 2021 and surpassed 2019 levels.

Creative services exports also rose, with their share of total services exports increasing from 12.3% in 2010 to 21.4% in 2020.

How countries are harnessing creative industries

The report highlights some recent statistics from both developed and developing countries showing how creative industries are contributing to various economies.

For example, in Azerbaijan, cultural and creative industries contributed 1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 3.8% of total employment in 2018.

In Canada, culture and sport represented 3% of the GDP, while cultural products accounted for 2.5% of total exports and 2.9% of imports in 2019.

In Colombia, almost 500,000 people worked in the creative economy in 2021.

Case studies from Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa show that developing countries measure the economic contribution of their creative industries in diverse ways.

The lack of yearly reporting and diverse definitions and methods applied in different countries make international comparisons difficult.

Tech is changing creative industries

New and emerging technologies (Industry 4.0) are fundamentally changing some creative industries, the report says. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the shift towards e-commerce and digital platforms and the scope of the transformation of the creative economy.

But global digital divides persist, with repercussions on the creative economy. Digital divides mainly affect the creative economy's ability to be inclusive, notably in developing countries that still need to benefit from the digital dimension of the creative economy.

To enhance the development impacts of the creative sector, especially in developing countries, Unctad calls for multidisciplinary policy responses in education, digital infrastructure, and legal frameworks related to the creative economy, such as intellectual property rights.

Challenges to measuring the creative economy

Lack of harmonised definitions and methodologies and lack of data are among the key challenges to measuring the creative economy. A lack of data may lead to some creative industries and activities being overlooked by analysis, policy design, and development.

Several frameworks exist to measure the creative economy, with patterns of common industries and products covered, but also differences due to national or regional classifications, activity or product coverage, and methodology.

Developing countries face several challenges in quantifying creative services. They often lack appropriate statistical systems, adequate institutional arrangements, financial resources, IT infrastructure, and trained experts. Even if data exist, processing, formatting, and publishing them may be challenging.

Better and more disaggregated data are required to gain more insights into the role of creative services in economic transformation and their potential for services-led diversification in developing economies.