United Nations

The creative economy (also known as the orange economy) is an evolving concept based on the contribution and potential of creative assets to contribute to economic growth and development. It embraces economic, cultural and social aspects interacting with technology, intellectual property and tourism objectives: it is a set of knowledge-based, and thus more localized, economic activities with a development dimension and cross-cutting linkages at macro and micro levels to the overall economy. There is not a single definition of creative economy, and the different definitions usually overlap.

The notion of creativity and creative economy is evolving. The definition of creativity builds on the interplay between human creativity, ideas, intellectual property, knowledge, and technology, while creative economy encompasses all the industries relying on creative activities. The concept of the creative economy is closely linked with the “knowledge economy,” a key driver of endogenous growth through investment in human capital.

This book describes the forms of copyright-based transactions and contractual practices that together form what could loosely be described as an international standard. It can be observed in countries where film and audiovisual production industries have reached a certain level of maturity in terms of legal, financing and distribution infrastructures.

This report aims to capture the scale of the global disruption caused by the pandemic of COVID-19. It examines the economic impact and consequences of the pandemic on the cultural and creative industries, and explores digital innovations that have emerged in response to this unprecedented crisis.

 This report has been commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization, with the objective of presenting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cultural and creative industries, education and research, identifying their initiatives and challenges in facing the pandemic, and consequently, the main trends and trajectories that emerged.

The cultural and creative sectors were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, with over 10 million jobs lost in 2020 alone. Public investment in culture has been declining over the last decade and creative professions remain overall unstable and underregulated. Although culture and entertainment are major employers of women (48.1%), gender equality is a distant prospect.

Through their contribution to urban regeneration and sustainable urban development, cultural and creative industries make cities more attractive places for people to live in and for economic activity to develop. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the cultural sector, yet it has also revealed the power of cultural and creative industries as a resource for city recovery and resilience.

This report seeks to contribute to understanding how youth social entrepreneurship can both support youth development and help accelerate the implementation of the SDGs. To do so, the report synthesizes the current discussion on social entrepreneurship and anchors it in the context of the 2030 Agenda.

This strategy acts as an umbrella framework to guide the entire UN as it steps up its work with and for young people across its three pillars – peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development – in all contexts.

With rapid technological growth, there is an increased opportunity to better link digital finance and business platforms for young entrepreneurs, especially in developing countries. This report provides trends related to youth entrepreneurship and financial inclusion in South Asia and South East Asia based on results from Findex and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey data and qualitative insights from an online survey of 64 young entrepreneurs.