Realising The Economy of the Imagination - Report

Overview

The Economy of the Imagination and the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) present many important socio-economic development options for South Africa. However, current economic options, in recent years, have been seemingly undermined by a slew of negative trends and factors: the increased balance of payments, low growth rates, persistent inequalities, the increased impact of climate change, and outraged social and student movements. These interlinked processes and experiences have added to the state’s financial burdens, and the rating agency’s move to downgrade South Africa’s status has impacted on the country’s economic and investment outlook.

However, there is more scope for action than is often assumed. For a middle-income economy South Africa’s capacity for innovation, ingenuity and creativity has been impressive. The challenge though, is to ensure that the play of the imagination and the significance of creativity in stimulating and conditioning economic development and robust nation-building are more widely appreciated and given greater priority within policy and leadership circles.

This report essentially comprises five sections. Section One provides introductory and contextual background regarding the creative economy internationally and in South Africa, and the challenges of embedding the CCIs within a supportive and creative milieu. The international emphasis on the contribution of the CCIs and creative economy is enhanced and new scholarship on institutional economics, economic geography and political economy approaches such as the Varieties of Capitalism perspective are considered. These collectively underline the importance of acknowledging the particularities of the social and political economy in the relevant national and/or regional economy, the workings of institutions and networks, and the importance of space and place, in the implementation and experience of economic development interventions. The rediscovery and expansion of the industrial cluster approach internationally and its application to new ways of conceptualising and realising economic development are noted. This includes the increasing invocation of CCI clusters. The commodification of ideas in the new creative economy and the ways in which the high-income countries have managed to retain their competitive advantage about proprietary knowledge and patents are significant. The middle-income economy challenge to stay in touch and, in some respects, narrow the gap between high-income countries with the globalised articulation of the creative and post knowledge economy is discussed.

Section Two outlines key contextual policy issues and initiatives regarding the contemporary creative economy and the CCIs in South Africa. The main strategy and policy productions are identified and situated.

This section provides a series of reflections derived mainly from current research of the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) relating to the subject of CCIs in South Africa. Thereafter, participant inputs from cross-domain workshops conducted by the SACO in the country’s nine provinces are analysed for further insight into the workings of the creative economy.

Section Three comprises two main sub-sections. The first of these considers the advent of the creative economy and explores current trends and developments about the CCIs internationally and also provides a brief historical context. The second sub-section provides a series of snapshots of CCIs in the South African context utilising current research of the SACO.

The next section examines the industrial cluster approach regarding the establishment and/or development of CCI clusters. Firstly, it provides an overview of the articulation of the contemporary cluster approach from the 1990s. An overview of the nature, scope and effects of industrial clusters is provided. Secondly, the policy dimensions of clusters in the post-2008 era are discussed. The invocation of clusters in new approaches to regional economic development and industrial modernization including ‘smart specialisation’ and ‘place-based’ approaches are investigated. In addition, the roles of clusters in promoting innovation and the spillover effects of their activities are outlined. Thirdly, the workings and dynamics of CCI clusters are explored, as well as their compatibility with new economic development approaches that take cognizance of institutions, place and context. The interaction of CCI clusters with a broader ‘knowledge pool’ is scrutinised. This creates the background in Section 5 for the consideration of the ‘economy of the imagination’.

In the final sub-section, the South African experience in industrial clusters is discussed, and examples considered. There is a degree of institutional support for industrial clusters, and a partial revival of state interest in their re-deployment. The report by contrast argues for the substantive use of industrial clusters within both a reworked industrial strategy and policy and regional economic development policies and initiatives. As part of this process a specific programme for CCIs that involves multi-stakeholder governance and intergovernmental cooperation between agencies such as the DTI, DAC and IDC, is suggested.

Section Five considers selected social and political economic issues regarding ‘the economy of the imagination’ in South Africa. In the first place, it considers the significance of new, under-utilised and alternative discourses on economic development. Secondly, it analyses the growing significance of creativity and imaginative thinking in economic development models and practices. Thirdly, the invocation of history as a means of re-thinking approaches to development is examined. The fourth consideration relates to the question of ingenuity both past and present, which is encountered in the South African society and economy. Finally, Section Six outlines the policy implications of the report, particularly with regard to the CCIs.