The Creative Economy
John Howkins
Hangzhou 18 June 2007

An idea
The modern duality is not between art
and science but between
life and death
thinking and not-thinking
learning and not-learning
novelty and repetition

three principles

three facts

the new billion

the new billion

education and learning
percentage of population 18-29yo at university
US: 60%
France: 54%
UK: 41% (5% in 1970)
China: 85 million graduates 2000-2015
Stop learning and you die

freedom
freedom index in Europe
Australia
USA
Japan
Internet
Creativity is not deferential

markets expand
from nation states to market states
WTO liberalisation
globalisation
‘the contract economy’

the portable office
free
private
works everywhere
challenge to management, control, tax
linked to the Internet

internet
partly about information
more about people
really about the freedom to create
no boss
no rules
no money

shift to individual expression
moving up the hierarchy of desires
spend time and money on pleasures
switch from fields & factories to the imagination
worldwide except….

a new way of working
commercial, paid
and
non-commercial, unpaid
full-time
and part-time

creativity
as a source of
identity
status
wealth
fun

new structures
conversations
conversations about conversations
ClueTrain 1999
people using companies
not companies using people

not just the arts
creativity is processing ideas
living off ideas, not land or capital
exploiting ideas’ intangible virtues
abstract
instantaneous
global

first principle
the individual is primary
and every idea is different
which is why the creative economy is
a contract economy

second principle
symbiosis between
the imagination and the market

3 kinds of creative economy
OECD - culture, creativity, innovation
newly industrialised - innovation
rural – culture

raw material
consciousness
memory
expression
judgement (talent)

how does it work?
we dream at 8-12 Hz, argue at 16-25 Hz
creativity comes from switching between dreams and reality
fantasy and fact
the diver

thinking
thinking is a proper job
thinking
more competitive than manufacturing
we live in an economy of failure

thinking
“stop learning and you die”
“be brave, leap in the dark”
“be promiscuous”
“enjoy beauty”
the confidence to be alone
the confidence to be in a group
Harry Kroto, 1996

how to succeed
recognise creativity is a state of mind
seize the opportunities
policy audit

policy audit
everything

policy audit
new ways of working together
new ways of creating wealth
new skills
new boundary between private and public
new forms of power (soft power)
therefore new forms of government

policy audit
copyright and patents are
the currency of the creative economy
we need a
balance between access and ownership
www.adelphicharter.org

an idea
integrate
people as
creative
thinking
individuals
into the
economy

www.creativeeconomy.com