EC launches paper on future of Europe’s creative industries

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the development of Europe’s creative industries. It is asking designers and other creative professionals to comment on ways to improve funding, skills and clustering.

The paper – titled Unlocking the Potential of Creative and Cultural Industries – says, ’There appears to be a need to improve the physical and social environment in which creative workers and related institutions, such as art and design schools or museums, can effectively operate in clusters.’

Highlighting creative industries’ struggle to find staff with the right skills, the paper suggests that design schools set up more incubator units as well as partnering business to solve the problem. Other goals include increasing creative businesses’ access to information and communications technology, and looking at improving peer coaching and funding at a European level.

An EC statement announcing the paper lauds the fact that designers ’have gradually become an essential part of the management team of many big companies’, which it hopes to encourage throughout the creative industries.

The consultation closes at the end of July, with the results summarised in a report to be published in September.

To comment, visit http://ec.europa.eu/culture/ our-policy-development/doc2577_en.htm.