2007 was a prolific year for the project, as it wrapped up the initial three-year period of the Linkage project and opened major new paths for the work. The outputs included a series of fact sheets on Australia’s creative economy, as well as five industry reports and academic articles published during the year which addressed the three principal objectives set out above. Taken together, these outputs had a considerable impact on policy research and focus, providing an evidence base of value at a state, national and international level.
In addition to those activities planned for 2007, three additional research projects were initiated. Two of these applied the project’s methodology to the employment data of the UK and New Zealand, while the third was the establishment of a multi-year research partnership with the Queensland Department of Trade, Regional Development and Industry.
1. CCI won a research tender from the UK’s premier organisation tasked with promoting innovation – the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). The project ‘From Creative Industries to Creative Economy: An application of CCI’s Creative Trident mapping methodology to the UK’ applied the Trident methodology to UK census data from 1981, 1991 and 2001, and to Labour Force Survey data from 2001 to 2006. The final report, documenting a number of significant advances on previous UK studies, was published by NESTA in February 2008. It will be the subject of an expert workshop organised by NESTA and DCMS in London in May 2008.
2. CCI was approached in early 2007 by the New Zealand Department of Trade and Enterprise to apply the methodology used in measuring Australian creative employment to the 2006 New Zealand Census data. The analysis was undertaken at the end of 2007; the resulting report, written in conjunction with New Zealand Industry and Economics Research (NZIER), a leading economic consultancy firm, is planned for release in mid-2008.
3. In 2006 we developed a research proposal addressing the need for more accurate and sophisticated firm and industry data. The proposal led to the planning in July 2007 for the establishment of an innovative longitudinal primary collaborative data collection facility, the Creative Business Intelligence Service (CBIS), which commenced operation in January 2008. This project is being conducted by CCI in collaboration with the Queensland Department of Tourism, Development and Industry and professional bodies including the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
Stage 2 saw the development of a project focusing on a series of case studies of the impact of creative inputs into the health sector (see 1.4 below).
The third stage of Creative Digital Industries in Australia explores the ‘New Economics of the Creative Industries’ using a combination of evolutionary economic theory, complexity theory and dynamic business system modelling. A number of academic papers (and working papers) were completed or underway in 2007; these examine patterns of income and profit in the creative industries, and the nature of innovation and economic growth in these environments (see 1.2 below).