Deer Park Alpha

Over the past month or so we have attended a whole host of events where the creative economy has been hailed as the saviour of the nation. However, quite apart from the fact that the creative sector is seen by just about every region in the developed world as its saviour, we are worried that there is a basic misunderstanding, at least in our neck of the woods, of what is meant by the Creative Economy.

We fear that we are suffering from a believe that the creative industries is just about creative companies i.e. graphic designers, web designers, architects, product designers etc. starting up in business in a region. To us it is not, of course this is part of it, but the real issue is educating, so called, non-creative companies to use design and to innovate. That is to buy the services of the creative companies and make themselves large turnover firms where staff and customers are over whelmed by the quality of the offer.

“The most successful economies of the 21st Century will be creative ones. We need to face up to that challenge across all elements of society.”

Chris Smith. Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. 2001

Through the various organisations we are involved, we are concerned with creating an economic and cultural environment for business to use design and creativity to innovate: to exploit new ideas and new opportunities ahead of competition. The public sector has a major role to play in this and we require:

“innovative solutions from our public services. These solutions will need to be supported by smarter approaches to procurement from government”.

Design Council, Driving innovation through public procurement. February 2009 – Discussion Paper.

Here in South Hampshire we have plans to..

“…put culture at the heart of South Hampshire, which will be recognised as a national and international beacon for and capital of all forms of cultural activity, to the benefit of residents, visitors and the local economy”.

PUSH Quality Places Delivery Plan 2009/10

We totally support this goal, as a rich cultural offer is at the heart of a place – culture is everything. However it does not tackle the issue of business engaging with design and creativity as highlighted in Sir George Cox’s Cox Review conclusion:

“Competition is going to get tougher. In the modern world, the only answer is to be more enterprising and more creative, and this has to come not in response to exhortation but out of enlightened self-interest.”

p.45, Cox Review, November 2005.

The Cox Review was triggered by:

“…concerns about how UK businesses can face up to the challenge of a world that is becoming vastly more competitive. Various government initiatives have looked at related areas like technology and enterprise, but the connecting thread of creativity has not received the attention it warrants, despite the fact that our creative capabilities – one of the UK’s undoubted strengths – lie at the very core of our ability to compete.”

p.3, Cox Review, November 2005.

If we have plans to raise a regions GVA (Regional GDP) through (amongst others) the creative industries then we must understand the basic idea that it is all businesses that we want to be innovating, not just those that go about with Apple Mac’s under their arms.

It is worth noting that Creative Industries means different things to different people. At one end of the scale it is visual and performing artists eking out a living from their art whilst working part time at something else. In my view these are the people along with the interested audience make up what is referred to as ‘cultural ecology’. At the other end are the commercial businesses in the design community where the talented create employment and significantly boost the economy (the creative industries represent around 10% of GDP) this is in the ‘creative industries’ sector. It is important that this differentiation is recognised by government/politicians/advisers. It may be easier to lump it all together but each have very specific needs. We therefore suffer from the tangled thinking around Creative and Cultural Industries and the design sector was ill served by the definition of creative industries under the DCMS heading. According to DCMS the creative industries include: Advertising, Film and video, Architecture, Music, Art and antiques markets, Performing arts, Computer and video games, Publishing, Crafts, Software, Design, Television and radio and Designer fashion.

We think Chris Smith was right in 2001, and as the economy changes then to prosper..

“..in challenging economic conditions and stay ahead of overseas competition, UK businesses must add value – designing innovative products and services instead of cutting prices.”

Design Council Briefing, 01 The impact of design on business, October 2008

And in addition:

“design is increasingly being used beyond this traditional remit as a strategic tool which enhances performance and unlocks innovation. Research has begun to examine this interdisciplinary role of design, and future work must aim to understand its full impact on business performance.”

Design Council Briefing, 01 The impact of design on business, October 2008