Europe fails to gauge cultural contribution to economy 15-11-2006 While Europe prides in its intellectual and creative past, it has failed to
assess the economic value of its cultural heritage and artistic creativity. This
is the main conclusion of “Study on the Economy of Culture in Europe” recently
published by the Directorate General Culture. During the Education, Youth and
Culture Council of 13 November, European Ministers emphasised the need for
harmonised statistics for the culture and creative sector at European level.
The main conclusion of the study is the following: “Today Europe knows the
importance of scientific innovation and is able to measure its investment in
support of research and innovation. It is, however, unable to gauge the
contribution culture and creativity has on the Lisbon goal to make Europe the
most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of
sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social
cohesion.”
The study stresses the need for harmonised statistics. It also contains other
recommendations for policy-makers, such as the inclusion of a set of objectives
in the Lisbon agenda. These objectives should be:
A final recommendation is that there should be a better coordination of
activities and policies within the Commission itself.
Following an open invitation to tender (DE), the European Commission selected
KEA European Affairs to carry out this study. KEA worked together with Media
Group (Turku School of Economics) and MKW Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH.
This study is a first at European level. It highlights the direct (in terms
of GDP, growth and employment) as well as the indirect (links between creativity
and innovation, links with the ICT sector, regional development and
attractiveness) contribution of the cultural and creative sectors towards the
Lisbon Agenda.
Source: What’s new on Europe LinksFor more information and to download the study, please visit the DG Culture website back |
