Cultural and Creative Industries

In the last few years, an ecosystem of various public and private entities, including a number of co-working spaces and clusters has been operating in the area of CCIs in Greece.

The cultural and creative sector in Greece is facing numerous challenges, namely the rapid change caused by the digital shift and globalization, market fragmentation relating to linguistic diversity, difficulties in accessing finance, complex administrative procedures and a shortage of comparable data. 

The Hellenic Ministry of Economy and Development, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, has included the cultural and creative sector as one of the 8 priority sectors of the new Operational Program Competitiveness-Entrepreneurship-Innovation (OPCEI) 2014-2020. Also, the above Ministries cooperate with each other for the enhancement of SMEs.

The General Secretariat for Research and Technology has funded a substantial number of   R&D projects for the period 2007-2013 in the area of cultural heritage, focusing on preservation, restoration of monuments, ICT applications and digital content, and cultural tourism.

Agora, Thessaloniki’s Film Market ( part of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival )  and - with a constant presence through all these years - established a productive and unique form of helping and introducing professionals from South-East and Central Europe, the Balkan region, the Mediterranean as well as the rest of the world to invited industry professionals, consultants, tutors and potential collaborators.

A private sector example   is the case of Corallia gi-Cluster.  It  has a strong focus on video games   and the visual arts.