The cultural and creative industries

The cultural and creative economy (CCE) is one of the fastest growing industries in the German economy. With 244,000 enterprises and a workforce of over 1 million, it makes up a large part of the country’s cultural goods and services. The CCE contributes to the diversity of our cultural landscape and to the cultural participation of a broad section of the population. Economically speaking, it is comparable in size with the automotive, engineering and ICT sectors. The industry’s turnover in 2010 was around EUR 137 billion (USD 180 billion). The Federal Government has launched several initiatives to promote and to stimulate innovation within the eleven market segments of the cultural economy (the advertising market, broadcasting industry, software and games industry, design industry, performing arts market, architectural market, book market, film industry, art market, press market, and music industry). These include the Cultural and Creative Industries Initiative, the German Federal Film Fund, the Initiative Music and the German Computer Game Prize.

The Cultural and Creative Industries Initiative of the Federal Government is geared towards improving the competitiveness of companies in the industries while enhancing th entrepreneurial skills of independent professionals and freelancers in the CCE. Since the Initiative’s launch in 2008, several measures (studies, workshops and project support) have been implemented to expand its impact. With the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for the Cultural and Creative Industries in 2009, the industry has its first platform for information, advising and networking at federal level.

The Centre of Excellence helps to strengthen the CCE both as an economic sector and as an important pillar of the increasingly knowledgebased economy. It acts as an intermediary between the creative classes and economic policy-makers. The Centre of Excellence’s remit includes establishing the cultural and creative industries as a publicly-recognised independent economic sector, improving access to existing support measures, further developing the range of professional training and continuing education on offer, optimising market opportunities for cultural professionals and creative people, and opening access to international markets. In addition to the Centre of Excellence, eight regional offices across the country were established in close consultation with the Länder. Their task is to help CCE entrepreneurs, independent professionals and freelancers clarify and successfully develop entrepreneurial ideas; to connect them to existing funding opportunities, particularly those in the field of economic promotion; and to create networks with other economic players and platforms for exchanging experiences. To this end, the Initiative established the website, kultur-kreativ-wirtschaft.de. In 2010 and 2011 the competition “Cultural and Creative Pilots in Germany” was implemented to further enhance the sector’s potential.