The Smart Economy : Cultural and Creative Industries in Greece: Can They Be a Way Out of the Crisis?

The cultural and creative economy is an area increasingly attracting research attention and has been at the heart of discussions underway, in advanced (post-industrial) economies and emerging economies alike, on the design of a development and growth strategy. In the Greek context, the sector has shown remarkable resilience during the current recession. Building on this positive development, and in line with the new international growth model whereby the economy of knowledge and technology interconnects with the economy of culture and creativity, Greek policymakers cannot afford to disregard the visible benefits of the smart economy in their quest for a new sustainable growth paradigm. The challenge is therefore to ensure a shift of cultural policy from its current static approach that focuses on the preservation of heritage to a dynamic one that would encourage the creation of new ideas and forms that could become tomorrow’s heritage. The main objective of the present study is to map possible roads to this shift. Specifically, the paper makes a first tentative attempt to delineate the scope of the cultural and creative economy, to outline its various components and aspects and to provide a quantitative view of how Greece fares in this new sector of activity. It goes on to describe the specific features of the sector of culture and creativity in Greece and concludes with ten practical recommendations that would foster the emergence of a virtuous circle linking culture, creativity and economic growth