The Innovative Response of Cultural and Creative Industries to Major European Societal Challenges: Toward a Knowledge and Competence Base

Abstract

In this paper we highlight the importance of culture, cultural heritage and creative industries (CCI) in current European policies in relation to a number of societal challenges, and how the CCI are called to innovatively respond to such challenges. We distinguish four main societal challenges to which the CCI can strategically respond and significantly unlock the potential for innovation and smart growth in the EU. These societal challenges are addressed by four main pillars of the CCI, namely: (1) Europeans’ creativity, cultural diversity and values; (2) European identity and cohesion; (3) European employment, economic resilience and smart growth; and (4) Europe’s external relations. We address each societal challenge from the CCI perspective, indicating how the CCI can provide innovative responses to such challenges and enable strategic crossovers through networking and collaboration, but also referring to some criticalities. We further discuss how this CCI capacity needs public support and provide an overview of how this is undertaken via the main EU, national and international policies, with a focus on the latest trends.

External Economic Effect of the Innovation Factor of Creative Industries

“…The decline in the achieved positions for these 8 countries is primarily due to the deterioration of the political situation in the country, which reduces the willingness of soft innovators to work there. This is confirmed by Gustafsson and Lazzaro (2021). This category, as suggested by Gryshchenko et al (2021) also put Ukraine in this categoryit is ranked 49 th .…”

“…Creative industries are growing rapidly in today's economy (Gustafsson and Lazzaro, 2021). Bakhshi, and McVittie (2009) note that the economic center of major cities is shifting from manufacturing to creative industries.…”

Sustainability in Creative and Cultural Industries: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…The analysis of all keywords complements the studies by Bui Hoai et al ( 2021), Dharmani et al (2021), Gustafsson and Lazzaro (2021), Lazzeretti et al (2017). It reveals that the terms creative industries, cultural industries, creative economy and cultural economy are used widely with broad understanding.…”

“…Harper (2021) argues that the inclusion of CCIs with other economic sectors is a potential driver of transformative sustainability. UNESCO (2021) suggests actions such as investment in creativity for climate change (Gustafsson & Lazzaro, 2021), supports inclusive cultural participation, promotion of creativity for sustainable economic growth and decent work and development of holistic policy approach, to make CCIs contribute to sustainable development. Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding of the current state of knowledge about sustainability in the CCIs.…”

“…In past three decades, when CCIs became visible in global economy (Deloitte, 2021;Gustafsson & Lazzaro, 2021;UNESCO, 2021) scientists from various disciplines were attracted drawn to this field of research. However, only recently the scientific documents on the importance of sustainability in CCIs started to be investigated (del Giudice et al, 2017;Štreimikienė & Kačerauskas, 2020).…”