The economies of the most advanced industrialised nations are undergoing a momentous transformation. Since the mid 1970’s manufacturing and traditional ‘heavy’ industries have been in decline. So much so, that what was foreseen in 1973 as ‘The Coming of Post-Industrial Society’1 has now firmly arrived in all the leading economies of the world. The new economies are not, however, the exclusive right of those which have ‘endured’ the old industrialism. New technologies are increasingly enabling nations and regions to leap-frog historical development cycles and attract those sectors of society which will create the growth economies of the future
Previously thriving industrialised centres are suffering massive job losses and population decline. Birth-rates in many nations have already fallen well below self maintaining levels leading to an already chillingly predictable outcome.
While employment from agriculture, manufacturing and traditional heavy industries has continued to decline, the service sector and the creative industries have been undergoing dramatic increases. In addition, average salaries are dramatically higher in the creative sector than those in the service and manufacturing industries.
Around the world, the annual increase of creative economic activity is consistently outstripping average GDP growth rates, in some cases by more than 250%2 . It is clear that any post industrial economy of the future needs to support a vibrant, dynamic culture of creativity. This need is undisputable – the question is; ‘how’?
1 Daniel Bell, New York: Basic Books
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