Rethinking Added Value in the Creative Industries: Combining Theory and Empirical Data

Abstract

Knowledge and understanding of added value in the creative industries are still in the fledgling stages. Despite their undisputed value for the future of Europe, the status of this industrial sector has remained marginal within scientific, economic and political circles to date in most European countries. Reports on the creative industries have reached an almost unmanageable number, giving rise to the most diverse interpretations. The large absence of a systematic convergence makes strategic discussion of the subject matter increasingly difficult, leading to exceedingly marginal consideration of the creative industries in relevant political and economic discourses. The current unsatisfactory situation is in part a reflection of the lack, of any real fruitful convergence of the qualitative and quantitative approaches to the creative industries. This workshop seeks to address this deficit at a high level by pooling together the leading European researchers. The workshop aims to consolidate and evaluate the most recent insights gained from quantitative and qualitative research. By bringing together scientists from both fields, we create a temporary platform allowing for interdisciplinary approaches to the subject. Insights gained from this workshop will provide the basis for further strategic thought at the level of individual countries and/or Europe at large. Practical organisation/General arrangements: The workshop was held at the University of Arts and Design Zurich, from the 29. May 2007 till the 31. May 2007. 17 participants (incl. convenor), from 9 countries. The setting and the programme of the workshop permitted additional informal interaction. The general atmosphere was very open, constructive and the research curiosity was clearly to be felt. The one crucial point was: the participants are specialists in various disciplines, with different research traditions, political backgrounds and acting in different political contexts. At the beginning of the workshop, while finding to each other out of these different backgrounds some frictions could be felt. Because of the interest and engagement of each participant in this workshop, the frictions soon disappeared.

Sumber: Christoph Weckerle, Zurich, Switzerland, 29 - 31 May 2007
                Folder Industri Kreatif