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Creative economy rests on existing businesses

Published: 13 Aug. 2014, 19:12

Choi Yang-hee

Since the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning was established, the term “creative economy” has constantly been criticized for being ambiguous. It is a concept that is not convincing, and the ministry cannot promote a policy that keeps everyone confused. A brief definition of the creative economy is “the paradigm of economic growth whose core of value creation and main engine are creative ideas and innovation.”

If labor and capital were the driving forces of economic growth in the past, invention and convergence using scientific technology and information and communication technology replaced them in the era of creative economy. When creative ideas evolve into new technology, service and intellectual properties and new businesses are formed, and new jobs will be created. Therefore, the success of a creative economy can be measured by the expansion of creative businesses and jobs, and the government needs to focus its efforts on this objective.

However, a creative economy is not limited to start-up businesses. Rather, the blueprint of a creative economy is complete only when existing businesses that provide most of the jobs become creative companies. Moreover, it will be effective to utilize hundreds of thousands of technologies and patents accumulated at universities and research centers.

The government plans to establish customized technological frameworks for industries and business types and to support creative innovation for the private sector. Moreover, each region is to have a support center to assist entrepreneurship and creative businesses in collaboration with resources at universities and research institutes in order to expand the country’s creative economy.

Obtaining a creative economy is no easy objective. Creative DNA of each individual should be nurtured, and the culture needs to be prepared. Various systematic assistance is needed, and regulations that restrict innovation are to be cleared. We don’t have enough time to leisurely approach the tasks. The next few years are the golden time to reignite the cooling growth engine of the national economy, and the government, the society and all economic entities must work together and push forward.

BY Choi Yang-hee, Minister of science, ICT and future planning