5. Digital Technology and the International Realm

digitalplatformThroughout this study the role of digital technology was illustrated as taking on a growing role in the creative economy. Digital technology demands new forms of intellectual property protection measures. It also permits human connections and linkages between individuals of different countries. Successful creative enterprises will be those that combine local physical delivery systems with digital support services and platforms of an international nature.

The report of the Work Foundation proposed a creative economy value system and expanded on the original five pillars of the creative industries as described in the 1998 Task Force mapping document. The core drivers of the creative economy are “education, skills, diversity, networks, cultural investment and public institutions, access to finance, business skills, the intellectual property framework, access to market, regulation, competition and crucially the collection of evidence and data.” This new delineation of core drivers of the creative economy matched with a cultural value system describes a sophisticated and organic creative eco-system.

In the traditional economy, before the growth of the Creative Class, each of these aspects would have been taken up by individual businesses and players in pursuit of specific profit oriented goals. Now though the demands on business are varying in nature and demands.

Each new business must include as many of the core drivers of an economy as possible because concentrating on delivering a specific service or product is no longer a sustainable business strategy with the arrival of the digital communication revolution. By leveraging the use of the internet and digital platforms it is now possible for small creative enterprises to deliver on several aspects of national policy and the economy while remaining true to a creative ethos.

If the London Design Festival were to set their strategic vision of opening the world’s premier design centre by 2012 it could begin by harnessing the power of digital technology. The first steps would be to begin testing and delivering on key aspects of local policy immediately.

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