Bridging entrepreneurship and creative industries

This question by Kate Oakley, a Professor at City University and the University of the Arts in London, and a researcher of creative industry policies internationally, is not an easy one. The discussion about emerging creative industries has been around for more than a decade, but it is only now that the (often politically motivated) hype starts to fade - and it is time to start asking more critical questions about the specifics of everyday work in the creative industries.

The creative industries, which include advertising, art, film, design, new media, music, radio and television, the like, are becoming an increasingly important element in international economic activity. At the same time, it is often that these spheres and entrepreneurship are viewed and perceived as two separate entities.

Bearing this in mind, three higher education institutions –- the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, the Baltic Film and Media School in Tallinn, and Aalto University School of Art and Design (TAIK) in Helsinki have joined forces in developing a creative industries Master’s Degree curriculum to bridge the concepts of creativity and entrepreneurial thinking. The aim of the joint MA programme is to introduce students to creative industries as a sector that offers entrepreneurial opportunities, promotes innovation and technological spillovers and fosters economic growth.

A draft curriculum in creative industries was tested during the summer school “Workshop in Creative Industries: Creativity and Economic Growth”, which took place in Tallinn and Riga with the involvement of TAIK faculty from 24 to 31 July 2009. The event provided an opportunity to test the content of the draft curriculum among traditional and non-traditional students from a variety of backgrounds.

The joint Nordplus Higher Education project of the three above-mentioned institutions “Master’s Degree Curriculum Development for Creative Industries: Structuring of the curriculum content and its approbation with social partners in private and public sectors” builds on the established cooperation and results of previous Nordplus projects and is aimed at further development of the MA programme with respect to its implementation strategy and also to testing the new curriculum with social partners in the private sector in the Baltic Sea region.