Output 1: Research

What are the “creative industries”? And how future-proof are the creative industries? Two important questions in the first phase of the research of the Trive-project. 

At the start of this project the project-partners concluded the following broad definition - “The Creative industries will be mainly focussed on communication and information activities”
This was arrived at by much research where we had to delve deeper and wider before we focussed. For example we considered the following:


• EU Commission definition “those industries which use culture as an input and have a cultural dimension, although their outputs are mainly functional. This classification includes architecture and design, which integrate creative elements into wider processes, as well as subsectors such as graphic design, fashion design or advertising”.

• The ‘creative industries’ is also referred to as the ‘creative and cultural industries‘or the ‘creative and digital industries‘ or the ‘creative industry‘ within the ‘creative economy‘. Most recently they have been called the ‘Orange
Economy‘ (La Economía Naranja) in Latin America and the Caribbean

• The creative industries definition from the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is: ‘Those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and jobcreation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. There are thirteen sub-sectors under the term ‘creative industries’ and these are:
advertising; architecture; the art and antiques market; crafts; design; designer fashion; film and video; interactive leisure software; music; the performing arts; publishing; software and computer games; and television and radio.

• The cultural industries are defined by UNESCO as ‘industries that combine the creation, production and commercialisation of contents which are intangible and cultural in nature; these contents are typically protected by copyright and they can take the form of a good or a service.’

• Increasingly, the term ‘Creative and Digital Industries’ is used in the UK because of the importance of digital content and online services within the creative sector of the economy.

• But we cannot, even with narrowing down the definition by the elimination of eg performing arts, hope to encompass all of what remains so it is suggested that we cover the most important sub-sectors ie ones that will be around most likely in 10 years and therefore worth preparing for training in entrepreneurship. These are suggested as:

  • Packaging companies;
  • Print companies that offer integrated marketing solutions;
  • Digital marketing companies;
  • Point of sale companies.

In the second phase of the project the main research will take place. It is a study on the development between 2016 and 2026 in the communication and media sector. After this reserach a more detailed research will take place on developments in the industry sectors between 2016-2025, profile development and entrepreneurials skills.

Research 1.1: Country study

Research 1.2: Developments, future company profiles, and entrepreneurial skills

Research 1.3: Developments, future company profiles, and entrepreneurial skills in the creative industries Executive Summary

Validation report