In this, the third CCI annual report, the centre's director, Stuart Cunningham introduces the report with an outline of the achievements of the centre over the last year while John Hartley discusses the implications of current policy for creative industries research in Australia.
This is followed by an outline of all projects undertaken by the centre in 2007 and details on publications and other outcomes. A full financial statement is provided at the end.
Stuart Cunningham writes:
In our application for the Centre of Excellence in 2004, we argued that Australia is well known for cultural inventiveness and creative talent, and for being a fast follower or early adopter of new technologies. It has upgraded its national policy commitment to research and development in science,
engineering and technology, and its links to international research networks in those areas. It has had export success in global cultural and education markets.
Despite these many positive characteristics, we claimed that serious problems are emerging in securing for Australia the maximum benefit from innovation in both the creative economy and the broader service economy. Obstacles to creative
innovation may handicap Australia’s future development as a knowledge economy. We identified several bottlenecks and missing links in the innovation 'chain' in Australia.
Our empirical knowledge of the creative sector is substantially defi cient. There are major gaps in our policy frameworks. There are costly market and planning failures, such as skill mismatches in the creative industries’ labour market. The legal and regulatory structures controlling cultural and
informational products embody conceptual obstacles to innovation.