Design Indaba has been our university
As the Design Indaba institution has grown, it has driven advocacy programmes to promote the creative industries amongst business, government, academia and civil society. This is borne of the experience in covering design across six continents in the last decade, and in hosting, and learning from, thought leaders in the creative space.
Design Indaba has recently compiled a document called Creative Industries: the sleeper in the SA economy which was presented to Cabinet Ministers and the Office of the Presidency, from which a governmental task team will plot a way forward in creating a coherent, cohesive national strategy for the creative industries. Design Indaba has started discussions on the creation of a Creative Coalition in South Africa. At its heart, the Creative Coalition is about a call to the creative fraternity in South Africa to collaborate more. And to organise itself into a united front. Into a significant lobby machine and a major lever for growth of the economy. We have a hunch that the X factor in driving sustainable economic growth will be innovation and creativity.
What are the creative industries, you might ask? Well, about 12-13 sectors make it up, according to mapping studies conducted in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia inside the last few years. There is consensus that we refer to the following: advertising, design, film and video, music, performing arts, fashion design, new media, publishing, radio and television, industrial design, visual art, architecture and crafts.
The reason these industries are grouped together under the banner, the creative industries is because it all complies with the definition:
Those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have the potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property.
And because design is the pervasive force that cuts across all the sectors, Design Indaba has grown to cover all of the creative industries. And from the portal : www.designindaba.com we compile a bibliography of latest research and articles on the creative industries, from all over the world.
Hope it inspires you, as it did us!
Lets create a better future, by design!
Dear Fellow Design Advocate,
We at Design Indaba® concur that "creativity is the essence of life and that which separates man from other species - the ability to consciously create products that become a determinant of the quality of life". So wrote Prof. John Heskett, a speaker at the 7th Design Indaba®, in his recent book, Toothpicks and Logos.
Yes, we agree. All human beings have the power to be creative. It is as natural as breathing. It's not the preserve of a graduate or a particular class of person. In South Africa, we must harness this power in order to grow our country. South Africans, who gave the world the first negotiated revolution and have exhibited an indomitable human spirit, must now dig deeper and mine their creative powers.
Creativity will fuel the next revolution - the economic revolution. And this needs to happen soon to absorb all the social pressures, such as AIDS and unemployment. We have to diversify our risk and we cannot afford to dawdle. We need creativity to enhance our competitive advantage. We need design to differentiate our products and services. We need to stand out from the crowd. We need to produce goods and services that the world will covet.
We cannot rest on our laurels and live off natural resources like gold and platinum. It's just not good enough. The world has changed. We now need to add value to these commodities through design. Lets face it: given the competition amongst emerging economies, we cannot be low-cost producers like China and India. Our only option is differentiation. We need to move further up the food chain and add value.
Critical to this is design, so you see, DESIGN is a strategic imperative of the country. Against this statement are a few structural and perceptual impediments: South Africans seem to be obsessed with scale in projects like Coega and other expensive endeavours as the answer to our economic problems. But this could be limiting our efforts at growing the economy. For example, in a recent survey conducted by the mayor of London, it was calculated that the creative industry was the second biggest contributor to the regional GDP of London, and one of the fastest growth areas for job creation. Interestingly, it contributes £21-billion to the London economy. And that from a sector where the majority of companies are small to medium enterprises!
As we travel the world analysing the design sector, we see studios that are small but with global reach and renown. Neville Brody, for example, has a studio of five people in Islington and revenues from clients in Korea, America, Canada, Israel and the rest of Europe.
Also, we need to lose our dependency on domestic consumption; we have to produce products that the world wants so that we may add new money into the economy. At the moment, our economy is a jumped-up "stokvel"*. We spend money with each other, and just circulate the same amongst all of us. What we need is more new money in the system.
*A stokvel is a savings club unique to South African townships.
Who will be the first South African designer to get shelf space at Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Neiman Marcus and Macy's? Who will be the first retailer to open up stores on Oxford Street, Park Avenue and Tverskaya Avenue? The jury is still out because, quite frankly, we are not close to reaching such goals yet.
Which South African brands will acquire iconic global status? Will it be Castle Lager or Sally Williams Nougat? What will be the lifestyle brand that becomes South Africa's Prada? These are the stretched targets that we must have as South Africans. We must think global. We must be confident and traipse around the boardrooms of the FTSE 100 and the Fortune 500. We must leverage off our intellectual capital. This buoyancy and optimism must become pervasive through South Africa and the continent, and infuse the creative industries with new energy.
You see, as regards the gamut in the creative industries, we have more work to do. We have had some early successes in advertising, with locally produced ads winning international acclaim. But we need to do more in the area of product design, fashion design, film and architecture. We need to grow from being a services sector for the local industry to one that is developing a new international client base. Can Cape Town and Johannesburg be to creative services what Bangalore and Hyderabad are to IT? A global hub for outsourced services is an intermediate step to building a manufacturing base towards developing more of our own products. We must produce their advertising campaigns, their CD-ROMS and their corporate videos; we must publish their books and produce their brochureware.
Why are we so bullish? Well, it's simple. We believe this country presents the best beta site in the world. With our blend of first-world infrastructure, and a third-world social milieu, we are, indeed, a world in one country. And we are ambitious and want to make up for lost time, strangled dreams and missed opportunities, through the past three decades in particular. And in the creative industries there are opportunities aplenty. You see, in many respects, South Africa is a wonderful green fields operation. And this has its advantages. There is a dividend for being a Johnny-come-lately. We can go to school on the experiences of the developed world, and fashion a system that learns from their mistakes as well as their successes. We can lay the building blocks for the growth of the creative industries so that we can see South African products on the high streets of the major capitals of the world.
Importantly, we have a great value proposition: World-class production values at Rand-based prices.
And what are we doing about this at Design Indaba®? Well, we are starting the lobby... Collecting the ammunition, and making a strong case to business, government and society.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
The Impact of Design on Stock Market Performance
Design is a critical component of business performance. Weve heard designers, commentators and companies say it. But, to date, the evidence for the link between shareholder return and investment in design has been scarce and anecdotal.
Understanding
the Experience Industry
It is about the first time you went to the cinema.
It is about the expectations for the new Harry
Potter book. It is about the sensation of holding
a new Gucci bag in your hand. It is about getting
a shiny new bicycle for Christmas. It is about
logging in and pitting your wits against players
from all around the world. It is about rushing
home to catch the new episode of Friends...
Creative Industries Mapping Study
The creative industries have been formally recognised
by the New Zealand government as having potential
for major growth on their own, as well as impacting
on a large number of other more traditional business
sectors...
The Australian Creative Industries Cluster
Study...
...conducted with particular reference to digital
content production.
Creative Industries Economic Estimates
This bulletin contains statistics on employment,
exports, numbers of businesses and gross value
added of the Creative Industries in the U.K. (
12 August 2004)
Creative Industries in the Modern City
This publication focuses on the work of the 18-month 'Creative Industries Development Partnership: St Petersburg, Helsinki, Manchester', initiated by St Petersburg's Leontief Centre for Social Science and Economic Research and the Prince of Wales International Business Forum.
R&D Strategy for Creative Industries
The creative industries are one of the three focus areas in the Growth and Innovation Framework (GIF). The Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology is the Government's primary purchaser of RS&T, and has made significant investments in research in the two other areas of GIF focus, biotechnology and ICT, but hitherto it has funded little research conducted by or on behalf of firms in the creative industries. This discussion paper considers the R&D requirements of creative industries. It draws on the responses made by participants at four forums on the R&D needs of creative industries, on the results of case studies of specific FRST investments in design R&D, and on examples of how other countries have responded to the R&D needs of creative industries or sectors; then considers the issues raised, and makes some recommendations about the way forward.
The Creative Industries and Cultural Professions in the 21st Century
Collectively, America's creative industries include not only the professional nonprofit art and cultural organizations and the commercial entertainment industries, but also a varied workforce composed of numerous occupations and professions. These industries are global players and have become the nation's leading exporters. They are a leading edge of what has variously been called the "new economy", the "information age" or "the creative economy." They are also a primary purveyor of America's image abroad and a source of mutual international understanding and misunderstanding. Yet the creative industries have little common identity and little public awareness of them as a collectivity. Without such an awareness, training, development, planning, and policymaking is not only difficult but also haphazard.
Creative Success - A Strategy for the Creative Industries in Wales
The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to the sustainable economic development of the economy in Wales. It has already supported the development of a number of sectoral initiatives in Wales, such as those for the automotive, aerospace and technology industries. This strategy builds on this collaborative approach and explains how the Welsh Assembly Government intends to expand its already comprehensive portfolio of support to encompass the creative industries - businesses rooted in the exploitation of creative intellectual property (IP).
Too important to ignore
An article from Financial Times.. On Creativity!
Design Industry Scoping Review
An appraisal of the current status of the New Zealand design profession/industry.
Driving the Creative Industries In the Western Cape
A research report presented to The Graduate School of Business University of Cape Town.
Harvard Business Review Online Americas Looming Creativity Crisis
United Kingdom Creative Industries
Provided by: Swiss Business Hub UK.
Press Release
Summary - world creative forum 2004.
The Aesthetic Imperative
Why the creative shall inherit the economy
Primary Economic Impact of the Creative
Economic survey of Singapore first quarter 2003
A definition of the Creative Industries
"Those industries that have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property."
Creative London
Creative London works to promote and grow the diversity, depth, quality and energy of the creative industries in London. Already a global success story, London's creative economy generates over twenty billion pounds in turnover and is responsible for more than half a million jobs.
The status of the Creative Industries in Japan
This paper examines the present status and policies for the creative industries in Japan, and considers ways to further promote their development.
|
|
|
|
|
