The Growing Power of Ideas and the Creative Economy

"Ideas change the world. The power of a new idea is the engine that transforms the way we live and think. …"

The Power of Ideas

Richard Stengel

IDEAS CAN MAKE YOU!

Whether you were watching or not, the world moved from the INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY to the CREATIVE ECONOMY. And the crucial driver of this Economy is simply IDEAS; good IDEAS constitute investment capital and raw material for the creative economy.

Let us reflect on the growing power, potency and economic value of ideas.

There is a book I wish I had written. Somebody else did. But I am happy the book was written. Dr Richard Florida, a lecturer and columnist, wrote The Rise of the Creative Class in 2002. Now there is a key statement inside the book which excites me more than anything else. Dr. Florida wrote:

"...human creativity is the ultimate economic resource" (Florida 2002, p. xiii)

This blog affirms this statement. Based on the premise that human creativity is the ultimate economic resource, it means we do not wait for Nigeria (and Africa) to industrialise in order to achieve tangible economic development. If we do not achieve the so-called technological leap many hope fervently for, I can bet that it would be much easier to achieve a CREATIVE LEAP.

This means that your creative idea can make you build wealth; your creative idea can make you rich.

At the Eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) XI High Level Panel on Creative Industries and Development which held in São Paulo, Brazil on 13th –18th June 2004 stated that:

The core industries or areas of activity that make up the "creative industries" include the recording industry; music and theatre production; the motion picture industry; music publishing; book, journal and newspaper publishing; the computer software industry; photography; commercial art; and the radio, television and cable broadcasting industries.

It is estimated that the global market value of creative industries will increase to US$ 1.3 trillion in 2005 (from $831 billion in 2000), an annual compound growth rate of over 7 per cent. Creativity is deeply embedded in a country's cultural context. As such it is a ubiquitous asset, present in all countries, and its effective nurturing and use can provide new opportunities for developing countries to "leap-frog" into new areas of wealth creation, consistent with wider trends in the global economy.

The creative industries refer to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. The creative industries include the following advertising; architecture; arts and antique markets; crafts; design; designer fashion; film, video and photography; software; computer games and electronic publishing; music and the visual and performing arts; publishing; television; and radio.

A key driver of interest in creative industries and development is the acknowledgement that the value of creative production resides in ideas and individual creativity, and developing countries have rich cultural traditions and pools of creative talent which lay a basic foundation for creative enterprises.

IDEAS ARE DIRECTLY CENTRAL TO PROPAGATING THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES. YOU DO NOT NEED SOPHISTICATED ENGINEERING TO COME UP WITH EFFECTIVE IDEAS.

The turn of the millennium is a turn from hamburgers to software. Software is an idea; hamburger is a cow. There will still be hamburger makers in the 21st century, of course, but the power, prestige, and money will flow to the companies with indispensable intellectual property.

Now the Industrial Economy is giving way to the Creative Economy, and corporations are at another crossroads. Attributes that made them ideal for the 20th century could cripple them in the 21st. So they will have to change, dramatically.

In the Creative Economy, the most important intellectual property isn't software or music or movies. It's the stuff inside employees' heads.

The 21st Century Corporation - The Creative Economy

Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine

August 2000 Double Issue

It would be handy to use the example of Nollywood, euphemism for Nigeria’s movie industry, and its rise to prove that Nigeria is indeed already reaping the potential benefits of the creative industries.

According to a BGL Research publication Nollywood grosses US$200m-US$300m a year in revenues, with little or no government help. Quoting based on figures from Media Facts 2011, BGL Research compared revenues from Nollywood (Nigeria), Bollywood (India) and Hollywood (USA). They found that Nollywood annual revenue is about US$0.25 Billion compared to US$51 Billion for Hollywood and US$ 1.75 Billion for Bollywood. In terms of number of people employed Nollywood employs up to 1,000,000 workers while Hollywood employs 1,969,000. Clearly, the potential is there and as the research report noted:

…Nollywood has been punching above its weight. The numbers are quite inspiring but the potentials are even more impressive. According to the Nigerian Film and Videos Censors Board (NFVCB), filmmaking employs about a million people in Nigeria, split equally between production and distribution, making it the country's biggest employer after agriculture.

See full report: http://research.bglgroupng.com/Documents/EconomicNote/ECONOMIC%20NOTE%20-The%20Nigerian%20Entertainment%20Industry.pdf

Next to Nollywood is the surge in electronic publishing. This has neither attracted the same level of attention as Nollywood has nor the same level of probing to get hard data.

ONE GOOD IDEA YOU COME UP WITH AND DEVELOP CAN TURN YOUR YEAR AND FUTURE AROUND POSITIVELY.

WHAT CREATIVE IDEAS DO YOU HAVE? WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO WITH IT?

2014 IS ALREADY COUNTING . . . TICK! TOCK!