Creative SpIN - A creative way to support economic and social innovation

An article written for the Creative SpIN newsletter issue 1 June 2014
by Lead Expert, Philippe Kern

Cities in competition high-quality cultural offer improves attractiveness

Many European cities are confronted with industrial delocalization, economic transformation and
its corollary unemployment. Globalisation, the economic and financial crisis and post-industrial
constraints are drawing cities into intense competition to attract and develop economic activities.
Cities are setting up departments to recruit foreign investors, they pamper local companies with a
variety of incentives, set up hubs, clusters and industrial parks to encourage entrepreneurship,
they invest in broadband connections and transport infrastructure to remain connected.
Importantly cities take care in ensuring an attractive quality of life with a cultural offer and social
animation which stand out. The soul of a city, its capacity to be festive, to make noise is a crucial
parameter of attractiveness in the competition to attract industries and talents. First class
theaters, operas, orchestras, music, film or street festivals, restaurants and bars, concert halls and
sporting events are imperatives to the destiny of cities. The art scene has made the reputation of
cities such as New York, London, Paris, Berlin or Vienna. New Yorks Mayor Michael Bloomberg
says that cultural activities and quality of life are a key part of maintaining competitiveness: I
have always believed that talent attracts capital more effectively and consistently than capital
attracts talents. This justified the 42 million USD investment to guarantee the lease of artists
studios and millions of subsidies to save Broadway or the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Asian and Latin American capitals looking to internationalize are busy developing first rate cultural
infrastructures often relying on European talents to run the show in the absence of a strong local
performing cultural sector.
The health of a city is recognized by the atmosphere, the parties it is able to stage. The success of
the application process to become European Capital of Culture is another testimony of the
importance of culture in delivering attractiveness.
The cultural policy of cities has adapted to this intrinsic link between cultural offer and economic
attractiveness. Successful cities are cities that integrate culture and creative industries in their
development plan. As a result culture policy is no longer about funding art institutions alone or
preserving the cultural heritage to attract tourists. It is a policy that aims at:
- Preserving social cohesion through participatory cultural events
- Re-appropriating urban spaces through artistic interventions or localization of creative activities
- Promoting imagination and creativity by stimulating the practice of art
- Developing entrepreneurship and economic activities by supporting cultural and creative
organisations whether in the not-for-profit or profit sectors.
KEA s.p.r.l. 51 rue du Trne B-1050 Bruxelles Tel.: +32-(0)2-289 26 00 Fax: +32-(0)2-289 26 06 - www.keanet.eu

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Culture and creative industries represent more than 10% of economic outputs in a large number
of cities today (Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, Milan, Vienna or Amsterdam). London estimates that the
sector is the second largest employer after the financial sector.
Similarly a large number of medium-sized cities have turned around their image and have become
attractive destinations for visitors as well as for enterprises thanks to their investment in art,
artists and creative industries: Nantes, Eindhoven, Lille, Bilbao, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Graz,
Edinburgh, Ljubljana, Warsaw, Tallinn and Tartu in Estonia to name a few.

New economic drivers rely on the intangible and the cultural

Today economic drivers are linked to the development of the digital economy, health and
environmental sustainability. Consumers on the other hand are buying more than products. They
are looking for brands, entertainment, meanings or experiences. Services delivering aesthetic,
comfort,
poetic metaphors, entertainment and social status generate new consumption patterns.
People buy the Nespresso coffee drinking experience by stepping in luxury retail environment.
The Virgin Atlantic in-flight entertainment experience invented by music business entrepreneur
Richard Branson has become the norm in the air-transport business. Steve Jobs has shown the
value of marrying technology with art to make Apple stand out from other technology companies.
Apples branding, product design and its entertainment offers are related to culture-basedcreativity.

Itunes, the hub to access entertainment is churning out 5 billion USD of revenue each quarter.
Google is as much an entertainment giant, disseminating cultural products through its networks
and search engine, than an engineering company. These are obvious examples of creative
spillovers between culture and creative industries with other economic sectors.
This form of innovation, born from the interaction between art, aesthetic, design and
entertainment, is benefiting a wide range of economic activities and enterprises that wish to

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remain competitive. Creativity is essential for companies to expand or survive. Large fashion
brands have understood the need to link up with artists, designers, crafts and art to give higher
luxury status to handbags, perfumes and catwalks. The fashion industry has benefited
tremendously from this interaction. It is no longer just about selling garments but it is about
providing dreams, emotions and social meanings.
Increasingly other industries are following the production models of the fashion industry. Products
are designed to be replaced for little additional functionality but to enable customers to remain
in as a sign of social status, network connection or brand celebration. The packaging (the form,
the brand) is as important as the content. More emphasis is given to the appearance, the colours,
the shape, the message and the user experience from an anthropological and cultural sense.
Importance is given to traditional craftsmanship or indications of origins to provide authenticity as
well as to give consumption a cultural value.
Reliance on aesthetic, design, entertainment, metaphors gives importance to skills from artists,
cultural organisations, and creative professionals. The latter helps businesses to differentiate
themselves whether in product innovation, branding, or communication. This form of nontechnical innovation is a feature of post-industrial economies.

Cities the best places to generate creativity

Industries are increasingly outsourcing creative and innovation (R&D) activities. To control costs
industries have become essentially financial and distribution centres relying on smaller,
decentralized units to develop products or services. The development of such products and
services is taking place in universities, labs, clusters, hubs or co-working spaces often established
in large urban centres as the latter offer the facilities and lifestyle conducive to creative or R&D
activities.
Indeed you are more likely to find creative professionals in an urban context offering networking
opportunities, social interactions with peers or investors and cultural enrichment. Cities are places
with abundant cultural resources ready to be mined by artists and creative professionals.
Cultural resources take the form of historical and heritage sites, languages, natural landscapes,
geography, museums, performing art organisations, food, social behaviours, literature, music or
audiovisual . They are essential sources of disruption and differentiation in a world where product
life is shorter and consumers in demand of customisation.
Cultural resources are the raw materials that nourish culture and creative industries. In parallel
cities, through their cultural assets, whether local or international, have become essential places
to generate innovation.

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The development of culture and creative industries is intertwined with a citys cultural and
creative ecosystem. Urban ecosystems which privilege the establishment of culture and creative
businesses in combination with a strong cultural offering elevate cities to the status of creative
cities, cities of destination as well as cities enabling the emergence of new economic activities
linked to the digital, sharing and experience economy.

Philippe Kern, Lead Expert

Creative SpIN is a network of 9 Cities, including Birmingham (Lead Partner) Rotterdam, Essen, Bologna, Tallinn, Mons,
Kosice, Kortrijk and Obidos. The Cities will test how creative skills and competence can spillover to drive innovation in
other key economic sectors. See: http://urbact.eu/fr/projects/innovation-creativity/creativespin/homepage/

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