The Creative Economy
For more about The Creative
Economy visit www.creative-economy.comWhat
is creativity? Simply the ability to generate something new. What is the creative economy?
It is the ideas business - the means by which new ideas and inventions are marketed and
sold. It consists of all creative acts in which intellectual work creates intellectual
value. Just as land defined the agricultural age and capital the industrial age,
intellectual property is the defining asset of the creative economy. Copyrights and
patents are its currency.
This economy is worth more
than $1.5 trillion worldwide. Both America and Britain export more copyright than cars.
John Howkins, a leading figure in communications and media, explores how we can harness
these creative businesses, focusing on the fifteen fastest growing copyright and patent
industries. Howkins has interviewed some of the leading entrepreneurs and practitioners in
design, nuclear physics, film and fashion, from David Puttnam and Anita Roddick to Terence
Conran, Harry Kroto and Richard Rogers, who discuss the ways in which they have channelled
their own creativity.
Outlining his ten rules for
success in the creative economy, Howkins gives wide-ranging and practical guidance on how
to turn creativity into cash. He also explores the role of the World Trade Organization
and looks at the implications for the global economy of recent attempts to patent genetic
material and even business methods. Throughout his emphasis is on the fundamentals of the
creative economy what we as individuals want, and what we are good at.
262 pages