Stakeholders from more than 50-countries, and more than 1,000 participants, including Indonesia's President Jokowi, lay the groundwork for developing an environment best suited to help the growth of creative economies at this years WCCE, hosted by The Indonesia Agency for Creative Economy (BEKRAF).

BEKRAF was created in January, 2015, by President Jokowi through Presidential Regulation No. 6 of 2015 and is charged with assisting the President in formulating, defining, coordinating and synchronizing policies in the creative economy.

But what is a Creative Economy? And why is it so important to Indonesia?

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says, "the creative economy has no single definition. It is an evolving concept, which builds on the interplay between human creativity and ideas and intellectual property, knowledge and technology."

Fundamentally, the creative economy comprises the knowledge-based economic activities upon which ‘creative industries’ are based. These activities include advertising, architecture, arts and crafts, design, fashion, film, video, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, software, computer games, electronic publishing, and TV/radio.  

UNCTAD go on to claim creative industries are among the most dynamic sectors in the world economy as they provide new opportunities for countries "to leapfrog into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy," something Indonesia appears to be doing - and doing well.

BEKRAF believe the "creative industry has brought a new era of business," and in so doing, business environments have fundamentally shifted. The agency believes a level playing field has now been created, which allows everyone to be involved. Geographical areas cease to exist and emerging technologies and the Internet means people from around the world can collaborate and work together for a common good.

In a country such as Indonesia, every business needs to take the Internet and associated emerging technologies seriously. According to the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), there were more than 143 million Internet users in 2017, a 7.9 percent increase from 2016 - and the graph is only getting steeper. Research from Retail News suggests that by the year 2025 this number will have increased by a further 75 million.

While this figure is significantly behind India (with 462 million users) and China (with over 800 million users according to Statista) it is more than Japan's 127 million, South Korea's 47 million and Australia's almost 15 million Internet subscribers.

By anyone's standards these numbers point to an enormous potential market and one that will continue to develop and grow, presenting and creating unimaginable business opportunities.

The message behind this year's WCCE is "Inclusively Creative," and covers social cohesion, regulations, marketing, ecosystem, and financing.

The main questions being asked are:

Equal Opportunities

How can a creative economy provide equal opportunities for all?

How can cross-cultural exchanges reinforce social cohesion to unite people?

How can the internet of things (IoT), help break down barriers for entrepreneurship.

Regulations

How can regulatory frameworks create and enable environments conducive to supporting a creative economy? 

How can regulations protect and promote intellectual property and support a financing system?

SMEs and Startups

What is the role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Startips in developing a creative economy?

What are the values and constraints?

How can talent be supported?

These are important questions to ask and find answers to as they are likely to lay the foundations upon which future economies are structured and built. As Antara News is reporting, "with the growth of technology and increasing incomes from emerging economies, it is apparent that the creative economy will become the future of the global economy."

Sources: Antara News, Internet World Stats, Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association, BEKRAF, The British Council, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Statista, Business Insider, Industri, Jakarta Globe, WCCE, Retail News, AVPN, Liputan6

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