The World Government Summit, in cooperation with FTI Consulting, discusses the role of the creative economy as one of the engines of growth in a new report.
Dubai, 3 February / WAM / FTI Consulting, in partnership with the World Government Summit, published a new joint report entitled “Horizons of Creativity: A Roadmap for Sustainable Growth and Economic Diversification,” which presents to governments and government sector leaders a strategic roadmap to harness the creative economy as a driver of national prosperity, innovation, and enhanced global influence.
The report highlights a structural shift, as the cultural and creative industries (which include cinema, music, performing arts, publishing, design, video games, architecture, and digital content making) are no longer on the margins of economic planning. After being placed in the category of specialized fields for a long time, they are today considered essential engines for sustainable growth, developing talent, and enhancing cultural influence.
The report also highlights the size of the creative economy globally (about $2.25 trillion in 2020), noting that it constitutes 3.1% of the global gross domestic product and employs approximately 6.2% of the total global workforce. It also reveals that every $1 invested in creative industries generates about $2.50 in total economic output, reflecting the spillover of their impact and the indirect benefits they generate on other sectors such as tourism, manufacturing, and urban services.
In this regard, Antoine Nasr, Senior Managing Director and Head of FTI Consulting in the Middle East, said: “This report shows that creativity is not just an addition to the cultural scene, but rather constitutes an essential pillar at the heart of the national economic strategy. “By integrating governance, finance, talent development, and enabling cross-border cooperation, governments can extract transformative value from the creative economy, driving innovation, generating new jobs, and strengthening international influence.”
The most prominent findings of the report include that coordinated, cross-ministerial governance structures, supported by dedicated government units, enable the transformation of creative potential into tangible and measurable economic impact, and that new financing mechanisms, including blended financing, guarantees, and funds dedicated to creative industries, help overcome traditional obstacles that prevent the flow of capital to creative institutions, The report also indicates that integrating creativity, entrepreneurship, and adaptive skills into education systems ensures building a sustainable talent pipeline capable of fueling the digital creative economy and ensuring its continuity.
The report confirms that creative industries are a pivotal tool for “cultural influence,” as they enable countries to enhance cultural diplomacy, expand their presence on the global stage, and raise their economic competitiveness, and that the creative economy represents a pivotal opportunity for an entire generation for countries that are moving today with determination and clarity to shape the features of global cultural industries for decades to come. As for those who do not catch this wave, they risk remaining in the position of the consumer rather than the producer, and the importer rather than the exporter.
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