The success of our creative industries

The occasion of the annual BAFTA awards for film-making is an appropriate time to celebrate the contribution that creative industries are making to the health and success of the British economy. In a major report published in 2007, the OECD ranked the UK as having the highest share of national income accounted for by creative industries such as film and television, the printed media, advertising, architecture, computer games, design and fashion. In 2006, creative industries contributed over £60bn to the UK economy and, with export earnings in excess of £15bn, they accounted for nearly eight per cent of our GDP.

Britain’s is now the leading exporter of creative products in the world and in many cases; we are establishing trade surpluses that are helping to reduce the deficit in goods and services. In 2006 the UK enjoyed a £2.5bn surplus in royalty income, in part down to the success of block-busting titles such as Harry Potter! From the performing arts to publishing, from designing software products for commercial and educational use to the output of innovative digital radio stations, the creative sector of the economy now employs well over two million people, the majority of whom work within small businesses. The growth rate of the creative sector is estimated to be more than twice that of the economy as a whole.

There was a good article on the importance of public libraries to this environment of research and creativity by British Library chief Lynne Brindley in today’s Observer.

It’s our public institutions that drive Britain’s creative surge