Creative Jobs, Industries and Places

This special issue publishes some of the interesting work that is going on within the creative economy research field. This concept of the creative economy has been the focus of our own research for more than a decade. The most fundamental level building block of the creative economy is, of course, creative individuals. Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) illustrated that every single human being has creative potential, and discussed the economic value of such creative individuals for innovation in industry. At the industry level, “creative industries” has been the terminology to describe industries where individual creativity is systematically harnessed to achieve high levels of innovation, namely, high-tech industries with a high R&D or programming component, as well as cultural industries such as entertainment or design (Caves, 2000; Throsby, 2001; Hesmondhalgh, 2002). Florida’s research demonstrated how it may be more important what individuals work with and where they live, rather than which firm they work in, providing a useful alternate framework for measuring regional development potential over the more education-focused human capital measurement. In other words, “the creative economy” is shorthand for intimate and intricate couplings between creative jobs, industries and places (Grabher, 2002; Scott, 2002; Cooke and Lazzeretti, 2008; Pratt, 2008). Policymaking focused on creative jobs, industries and places is more in focus than ever for several reasons. With the financial crisis, manufacturing intense regions have experienced an accelerated decline and new jobs have to be created to substitute for the loss of the traditional working-class jobs. However, places with higher creative content, both in terms of jobs and industries, clearly seem to adapt more rapidly and easily to the new conditions. No wonder policymakers from around the world try to get a better understanding of what these industries are, and how they relate to jobs and qualities of place. Understanding the couplings among creative jobs, industries and places is crucial for managers and policymakers alike, and arguably, a central research problem pertaining to the creative economy is how these different levels of analysis are interdependent.