Developing a creative development platform “Creative West” June 16 th 2010. Ian Brannigan ( Regional Development Manager WDC)

Developing a creative development platform

“Creative West”

June 16th 2010 .Ian Brannigan (Regional Development Manager WDC)

Western Region of Ireland

Western Region of Ireland 7 counties – Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim,

Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, Clare Pop – 762,000 (68% in rural areas) 1 city (Galway); 5 towns >10,000 Employment – Public sector; industry;

wholesale & retail; construction; agri GVA <75% state average Workforce with 3rd level rose 19%-

28% (2002-2008)

New Global Competition for Talent*

Economic success depends on new terms of competition

–A nation’s ability to mobilize, attract and retain creative human talent (Richard Florida, Flight of the Creative Class)

But REGIONS* compete for talent, not nations–Creative people don’t choose countries, they think of cities or regions•Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Stockholm, Vancouver, Sydney

Equally where people followed jobs – in CE jobs follow creative people**

•- David A Wolfe – Centre for international studies University of Toronto** Robert Huggins University of Cardiff

Why the Creative Sector? Significant, indigenous

sector Strong growth potential High quality employment Stimulates innovation in

wider economy – strong linkages

Important social role/attractiveness of area

Promotes rural and regional development

Clare creative word cloud

Sligo creative word cloud

Creative West: Selected findings Avg productivity of creative

sector in WR - €25,000 per employee

39% self-employed/ 12% over 10 employees

Low export activity, 2/3 do not export

Crafts & music/visual/performing arts highest value of exports

Next Steps

Regionally Using the “creative west” findings to design and develop a significant regional growth program for the sector

Vision Global perception of region as a creative hotbed. Fulfilling endogenous potential and attracting global talent.

Value - To create a platform for sector growth through international market and product opportunities

People – Functioning networks of practice spreading within and outside of the region to invigorate ideas and develop skills and opportunities

Ecosystem – Evolve the built and support infrastructure into a sustainable creative ecosystem, which is capable of internal growth and seeding the wider economies innovation

Key action – unlock the growth potential of the region through the creative west platform program

Creative West NPPProject Title: Creative West – Pan regional creative platform for sustainable growth of rural peripheral

creative businesses

Theme (Select one)

Priority 1: Promoting innovation and competitiveness in remote and peripheral areas transnational cooperation networks and knowledge transfer to develop existing and new

innovative products cooperation and exchange of best practice between SMEs on how to address and reach

markets with existing and new products Project Description: A development project focussed on creating and piloting a practical platform for the sustainable

growth of regional Creative industries primarily through export development and increased interaction with the wider regional business ecosystem, in the NPP regions.

This initiative will seek to gather concerned parties (Regional agencies, Educational institutions, Government agencies and specialist organisations) together to design and develop a practical initiative to sustainably grow regional CE businesses in the NPP region based on identified potential of export growth from peripheral regions of creative goods and services and increased levels of interaction with the non creative businesses in the wider regional economies. The practical outputs are based on existing analysis of the CE in the regional context and the initiative outputs may broadly be envisaged as :

Creative West NPP A pan regional platform developed and

implemented for Export growth of creative goods and services. Need: Research has shown that in peripheral

regions many creative businesses are not active in global markets. E.g. In the West of Ireland 66% of Creative businesses do not actively participate in the global market, and receive less than 5% of their total turnover from exports. This is believed similar in many rural creative economies.

Creative West NPP

A pan regional model for CE Market and Product growth through developing and implementing functioning networks of practice (NOPs) for Creative businesses (targeted within the CE and outside to the general industrial base) Need: Studies have shown that in rural peripheral

creative regions there is often minimal interaction between similar businesses especially in the micro SME case. Similarly the level of interaction between these creative businesses and “mainstream” industry remains weak. This diminishes opportunities for product and market development.

Creative West NPP Model for regional Built environment

development - a cursory assessment of benefits and viability of local authorities offering temporary creative launch pads in towns and villages through "creative caretaker" programme for empty shops and offices in public thoroughfares.

Contact:

[email protected]: 00 353 94 986 1441Mobile 00 353 866048012