European Creative Industries Summit 2015  

“The Cultural Creative Entrepreneur in the 21st Century”

Brussels, May 11th 2015

Promoting the cultural creative industries to bring in its full potential for growth within the framework of the Agenda Europe 2020 has led the European Commission and currently the Latvian EU Presidency to focus its spillover effects in the wider economy and society. These transformational effects of culture and creativity beyond the sectors of cultural and creative industries are also on the agenda in several research and policy initiatives on national and European level. While expectations towards culture and creativity are constantly increasing, the underlying qualifications and frameworks to produce such values have not been changed within the last years – one might argue they have deteriorated in many nations or sectors. Reasons here fore differ from nation to nation, but one change driver in all sectors and all nations is the digital revolution – opening new markets and business models as well closing and crushing traditional sectors which have employed several 100.000 players.

Given the on-going focus on spillover effects of cultural and creative industries within the funding period 2014 – 2020, like Creative Europe, Innovationunion, Horizon 2020, the ECIS 15 calls to debate the values and future identity of cultural and creative entrepreneurs and the policy frameworks necessary. Questions must focus multi-dimensional gaps such as between artistic autonomy and service, local and global, profit and non-profit of public ethical goods as well as between the interchange between private and public goods. These questions are not new, but digital and spillover frameworks are not new and so new answers must be developed to generate a sustainable next generation of entrepreneurs fit for these new spillover roles:  What is the next generation of cultural creative entrepreneurs?