FromCreative Industries
toCreative Economyy
Professor Ali Farhoomand
Director, Asia Case Research Centre
Coordinator Creativity and Business Innovation Programme
Coordinator,

Why Creativity?

Creativityy Class On the Rise
There are four classes of labour in the US:
Agricultural, Working, Service and Creative
AgriculturalA
i lt l classlhhas bbeen on ththe ddecline
li sincei
1900s.
Working class started to decline since the1960s while the Service class peaked in the1980s.
Only the Creative class has seen continuous
growth.
gSource: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Global Creative Economyy
The US dominates the global creative economy
with a lion’s share of 43% in value.
R&D, publishing and software are the top 3
industries within the US creative economy
economy,worth around US$1,500 billion at the turn of thecentury.
century

Source: Florida (2004) The Rise of the Creative Class.

Essence of Creativityy
Creativity is the generation of new ideas—
looking at existing ideas, seeing newopportunities or exploiting new technologies
Innovation is successful exploitation of newideas, generating new products, services, orways of running or doing business
Design links up creativity and innovation

Creativityy Comingg TogethergTechnologicalCreativity

CulturalCreativity

Source: Florida (2004) The Rise of the Creative Class.

EconomicCreativityTarget

Creative Nations | Finland
Finns do not pick up numeracy and literacy
learning until in primary school, but still score
top on OECD’s Programme for International
Student Assessment
Specialisation is a
avoidedoided until
ntil tertiar
tertiary ededucation,
cationproviding maximum diversification in study
Extensive interaction between academia andthe private sector spawns real-life
real life innovation
Also home to Nokia, one of the most innovative
companies in the world

Creative Nations | Spainp
Spain invests heavily in R&D (14% annualgrowth in 2004)
It also houses some of the most innovative
companies (Mango, Zara)
Spanish entrepreneurs are young, welleducated,, well representedp
byy females andspawned by drive
SpanishSi h education
dti systemtempowers education
dti
institutions and students with autonomy andlib t
liberty

Creative Nations | South Korea
Pioneer in breaking
g awayy from rote-learning
gPrimary education based on homeroomtteaching,hiwith
ith resident
id t tteacher
h providing
idi hholisticli ti
education
Student-oriented system incorporates many
points of integration with the extra-curriculum
extra curriculum
and real life opportunities (p/t jobs, extensive
travel opportunities
opportunities, high political involvement)
Home to Samsung, LG (Great emphasis on
design and innovation)

Situation in Hong Kong
EEconomic
i Activities
A ti iti
In 2005: Wholesale, retail and import and export trade,
restaurants
tt andd hotels
h t l produceddd ththe llargestt sharehoff
Hong Kong’s GDP, at 28.3%.
It was followed by Financing, insurance, real estate andbusiness services with 22.2%.
Community, social and personal services was third with19.3%.
Ownership of premises was fourth at 10.7%.
Transport, storage and communications was second
last with 10.2%.
Non-services took the smallest share, at 9.4%
Source: Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department

Situation in Hong Kong
R&D Spending
Sdi gWorld s biggest economies spend over 2
World’s
2.5%
5% ofGDP on R&D.
HK spent just over one-sixth of what US spent
on R&D per capita in 2006
2006.
In terms of GDP
GDP, HK’s
HK s R&D spending was lessthan one-third of that of the US.

Source: OECD – Main Science and Technology Indicators 2008 and Census & Statistics Department, HK governmentSituation in Hong Kong
EdEducation
ti Expenditures
EditIn 2006
2006, HK’s
HK s total public expenditure on
education per capita was just over one-third ofthe US’s
US s expenditure.
expenditure
In terms of GDP
GDP, HK’s
HK s public education
spending was slightly above half of that of theUS.
USSource: IMD World Competitiveness ReportRoadblocks to Creativity in HK
B iBusinesses
Hongo g Kongo g busbusinesses
esses ooften
te mistakesta e tec
technology
o ogy foroinnovation and aesthetics for design
Short-term business horizon treats design as a sunkcost as opposed to a value multiplier (Nike, Samsung, andApple exemplify the value of both product and service design)

Fast-moving
g mentality
yp
precludes time-intensive
deliberation required for creative and design thinking
The business
Thb iculturelt
iis usuallyll top-down,t dth stifling
thustifli
the bottom-up spawning of new ideas

Roadblocks to Creativity in HK
EdEducationti
Current system inadvertently encourages
parochialism, thus restricting students’ worldview
Education reform in HK has had small support
base because of shifting policy (problem-basedlearning outcome-basedlearning,outcome based learninglearning…))

Creativity and Education
G dN
GoodNews
Secondary and tertiary education are moving
toward greater flexibility (3-3-4)Students are increasingly being exposed todifferent cultures through exchange programs
Many Asian languages promote the use of theright side of the brain, thus could potentiallyfacilitate creativity

Creativity and Education
G dNGoodNews
Asians tend to think on collective and middlemiddle
ground terms with heavy contextual andrelationship logic—prerequisites
logic prerequisites for creativity
In theory,y, at least,, Asian cultures should be
more conducive to creativity than linear-thinking
Western cultures

From
C ti IIndustries
Creatived titoCreative Economy