Perth's creative industries

This report, prepared for the Perth City Council, shows that in 2006 Metropolitan Perth’s Creative Industry (CI) segments employed almost 40,000 people and contributed $4.6bn to the local economy. The flow-on value was an additional $6bn, bringing their total contribution to more than $10bn.

Creative Industries (CIs) are those businesses that turn creative ideas into commercial outcomes. The economic, social, industrial and cultural contributions of these industries are increasingly being recognised as essential elements of an advanced and thriving regional economy.

They are vital in determining the image of a region, retaining talent to that region and providing positive, substantial benefi ts to other industry sectors.

Summary of policy challanges in Perth
The fact that the vast majority of CI organisations are very small and so suffer a lack of scale, leads to signifi cant shortcomings in business capability, financial capacity and a capacity to generate intellectual property (IP). Perth’s isolation distances the city from industry decision-makers and investors. Furthermore, the city’s physical dispersal
often leads to weak connections between creatives. CI associations are inclined to be small, and below the size needed to deliver the scope of services required by boutique CI businesses. Significant benefits can be reaped by improving the business capacity of CIs workers, or their access to business capability, as well as exploiting improved communications technologies.

Initiatives likely to offer the greatest opportunities to redress existing shortcomings include: Global niche marketing services, business intelligence, joint venture facilitation and CI business skills development. These and other challenges are documented in detail, in the attached report.

Citation
Morris, Peter, Higgs, Peter, Lennon, Sasha and Kelleher, Anita (2007) ‘Perth’s Creative Industries’, Perth City Council