It's enlightening when economists talk creativity, and dialog ideas and innovation into business speak, and when creative industries are highlighted for their unique strengths and economic potential.
That's what Jordan's leading economist Yusuf Mansur does as he positions Jordan as a creative economy in this interesting piece in today's Jordan Times. He starts off by asking,
Can Jordan become a creative economy where young people’s ideas, those with the most creative minds in the world, can be translated into a powerful industry worth billions of dollars?This economy is about the convergence of creativity, innovation and business, and his response is optimistic and attainable,
The answer is a qualified yes. Some work, however, needs to be done.He reminds us that the
....wealth of a nation, and thus its competitiveness, derives from the stock of the following seven types of capital: natural, financial and man-made resources, institutional, human, knowledge and cultural capital. The last four make up the core of a creative economy, the environment where ideas acquire an economic content (i.e., have value).and why creative workers are needed as important contributions to the workplace,
and like any good economist, he shows us the way,A creative worker turns an event and its logistics into a holistic experience. He/she turns a monolog into an evolving dialog that rhymes with and resonates in the hearts and minds of others. A producer finds synergy among some of the most unlikely components and delivers an audiovisual output that sells and creates economies of scale and scope where there was none. The R&D worker designs the next patent or solution for an environmental challenge and benefits not only the economy of today but also that of the future.
Creative economy empowers the jewellery worker in a social development program to think in an entrepreneurial way about starting her or his own design line. A curator transforms buildings erected in the name of culture into a year-round dynamic and buzzing home for artists, audiences and the community at large, thus making culture, molding with creativity rigid mortar and structures into a working social and economic capital.
Urgently needed is the use of language and understanding of: creative economy, creative industries, creative workers; legal awareness and environment - legislation and intellectual property rights; restructuring and funding public plans to enhance capacity building of creative people; positioning and pitching Jordan as an investor in the creative economy; inviting local and foreign investment in the portfolios of specific industries with the aim of enhancing creativity; conducting economic evaluations of the impact of creative workers on Jordanian industries and categorizing them with Creative Economy global metrics; documenting stories of successes with facts and proofs; delineating potential growth trends, challenges, opportunities and strategies; transforming attitudes towards what we have and should do in order to create an urgent sense of commitment towards nurturing the potential of a creative Jordanian economy.
Jordan can deliver world-class creative work. The solution lies in cooperation between business and government to enhance, not harness, this creativity. Give creativity a chance and it will manifest itself. Better still, give it a platform and it will dazzle. Let it have centre stage and it will win the day and achieve for Jordan that competitiveness that has for long eluded it. read full article
Is creativity what we need to drive our new economy? Are these the industries that will help generate the jobs needed and the environment we desire?
This UNCTAD 2008 report on the Creative Economy provides an interesting overview from the world and delves into the components of this economy to help guide more informed policy making. On Facebook, Ramsey reminded me of Richard Florida's book The Rise of the Creative Class, and the importance of and impact on place. Something CSBE's architectural historian Mohammad al-Asad writes about thru his many soulful Amman and Arab city journeys. Among many others, a must read is his piece from last summer, The City's Creative Energies.
As we look towards a new year, yearn for creative and cultural richness, and search for economic optimism, an investment in Jordan's creative economy could offer that boost we deserve.
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6 comments:
"Jordan can deliver world-class creative work. The solution lies in cooperation between business and government to enhance, not harness, this creativity"
I am extremely skeptical about this. I do not think the government has what it takes to do it's part of the bargain. There is too much anti-creativity in the basic mind set.
As for the industry, as someone who deals with Jordanian industry on a daily basis, the situation with the industry is somewhat hopeless.
I do not see Jordan becoming a creative economy within the next 10years. The changes that are required to do it would take twice as long. Especially if any changes are implemented at the elementary education level.
Interesting post. I often wonder why Jordan does not embrace the arts with such a young population and little natural resources. My interest lies primarily in environmentally conscience architecture, yet to be practiced in Jordan.
Another interesting article by Yousef Mansur no doubt about that - but the initial question should not be if Jordan can - but if Jordan can afford not to...
Today Jordan rely very much on a traditional service economy (for the part that is not remittances and aid) and that has to evolve into another kind of economy because on traditional services we all will be outcompeted by economies as the Indian and Chinese.
Small countries with no natural resources can only rely on the brainpower of its people and their creativity and ability to do things better and more efficient by innovation and ingenuity.
How to do that? It starts out in education which should focus on a creative environment and move away from one-way blackboard instruction. Society should merit people that take a calculated risk and government should make sure that the legislative, judicial and to a certain degree financial conditions are put in place in order to creative a positive environment for innovation and creativity.
Not many countries have made it that far - and Jordan certainly has a way to go - but in my opinion no choice in its direction.
Thank you for the interest in this article. I agree that Jordan does not have a choice. The limitations of its market size and lack of natural resources make the development of creative industries and, consequently a creative economy a national imperative.
But talk is cheap; this is one thing I have learned from years of working in the policy kitchens of Jordan. Study after study will fall on deaf ears, rhetoric will be just that, rhetoric; sometimes eloquent and at times pathetic. The result, so far, has been a non-feat!
Unless the content of our exports moves to become an amalgamation of the cultural, social, artistic, economic, and literary creativities of the nation, that sells and competes in terms of creative content with that of the developed our trade deficit will continue to be a drain on our current resources and a threat to our economic viability as a nation. The message can not be clearer said than in the current and past numbers of our balance of payments, trade deficits, lack of diversity in industrial output, and the near absence of creative content in exports.
So where are the decision makers from all this? If a study is made, it is usually funded by aid agencies and then shelved as those who requested it either soon move on willingly or otherwise, or they (having withered the storms of a musical chair-changing culture) realize that the government does not have the budget to do it. But the budget deficit has been increasing fast, a rate of JD 1 billion a year should be alarming! Where does the budget go? To pay wages and salaries; not to improve lost and denigrated capacities.
Jordan, over the last few years, has frequently announced its desire to emulate the Irish Development Model, the Singapore Model, and the Dubai Model. Millions of dollars, mostly aid money, have been spent on consultants who made glitzy documents that were saved on USBs and then hidden; not out of malice but because of lack of systematic follow up, absence of meritocracy both in the public and private sectors --the creative assets are neither prized nor rewarded and the dull and status quo mongers are kept and nourished--, and the absence of national dialogue on creating creativity.
It has been said that a wise leadership never moves too fast ahead of its flock, for then they only see its back and it is left alone. A wise leadership moves with its people, leads them toward a vision that they buy into, institutes proper management measures and reward and punishment systems for all and lets all know that its rewards and threats are credible. Those are also the basic tenets for a successful change management process in any organization. Alas, change in Jordan has swung like a pendulum from one extreme into another, and the implementation of initiatives has gone unmonitored. In time, people did realize that the game is one of pulses of brilliance that are followed by complete amnesia. They have learned to be egged on by the next initiative. Herein lays the loss of credibility and the absence of a national vision. A short casual trip down memory lane would show empirically that this has been the case.
A message must be sent that the creative economy is the way out, the only way out. It is the difficult, yet correct path; not the easy one! It is the national imperative that should be urgently dialogued again and again until it becomes the pulse and talk of the street.
The message should be followed with a strong showing of commitment of resources; cross cutting dialogue and policies that involve all, not the elitist few—for they are already converted but alone ca do nothing. The private-public-civil society paradigm, considered ideal in policy design, must become a square that also involves the creative minds. The outcome should be a blue print, a framework that not only brings the message to the street for there lies the greatest of all assets, the minds of people, but also provides a detailed delineation of the 10,000 wrongs that should be righted. Failure of creativity is never caused by one single policy but thousands of wrong turns in policy design and implementation.
Muscle should follow close behind the blue print; that is, money, not only a stick. Carrying a stick without the willingness to promote creative industries is a failure and an abuse of power—lack of governance—because the greatest role of the state is the promotion of the welfare of its citizens; providing incentives to do well not simply fear of doing wrong.
A starting point in all our policies is to refrain from telling people what to do, but what not to do! Here lies our first and utmost departure from a paternalistic mindset toward the governed.
Creativity starts in the household when a child is taught individuality; it is nourished at schools where the child is endowed with analytical skills and problem solving mode of thinking; later in institutions that realize the significance of creativity and the need to create coopetition (a mix of cooperation and competition) among institutions; and in laws that respect the intellectual property rights of creators. The collective of the parts thus becomes a hub of creativity and a creative economy consequently emerges.
It can be done; in spite of our tardiness and lack of the institutional set up; and regardless of how late we have been in joining the game, it can be done! Thoughts and ideas, once rooted and engrained, are powerful drivers for competitiveness.
"Creative work", entrepreneurship, soft power, etc... are the only way Jordan and the Arab world can move from where we are today to achieving sustainable development that can improve the lives of the people of the region, and gives the region the ability to compete in a very complex and increasingly connected world. This is the only competitive and comparative advantage that we can have over the long run. But this starts in schools, what we teach our kids, how we teach, and who teaches them... the learning process is where it all begins ... once we do that, then having the enabling environment and proper institutional set ups are doable... they have been done in many places... at risk of using the usual cliché, look at Singapore... it can be done...
Mohammed - I think the shift is inevitable. At what speed is up to us. This is one of those challenges that is very achievable if workers and communities jump start it. So much innovation can be infused into our industries, our academia and our streets, without government at first. Once an evolution is imminent, change will be imposed on policy, law, attitude.
Anonymous - how about architecture that makes use of our light and weather for starters.
Thomas - You're so right that Jordan cannot afford not to. And thankfully I believe we've already started. Tech and connectivity's impact on our work/lifestyle, the evolving ways in which people are communicating, working and contributing are starting to show economic, cultural, social impact. In tiny spurts at the moment.... and can only grow.
Yusuf - thanks for creating a path for the journey!
Anonymous - thankfully, the open movement and social sharing and exchange are allowing new ways of learning and development. Agree - yes it can be done.
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