A Review of Digital Creative Industries in Asia: Opportunities and Policies to Foster Growth and Create High-Quality Jobs

Table of Contents

• Contents 5
• Tables, Figures, and Boxes 6
• Foreword 8
• Acknowledgments 9
• Abbreviations 12
• Executive Summary 13
• Introduction 17
• Objectives and Scope of the Study 18
• Research Methodology 20
• Defining Digital Creative Industries 21
• Part I: Opportunities 23
• 1. Digital Creative Industries: A driver of job creation and socioeconomic development in Asia 24
• 1.1 Digital creative industries grow faster than the wider economy 25
• 1.2 Digital Creative Industries create new employment opportunities 27
• 1.3 Digital Creative Industries reinforce a country’s national brand and increase soft power 29
• 1.4 Digital Creative Industries have spillover effects on other sectors 31
• 1.5 Digital Creative Industries foster social and human development 32
• 2. Digital Transformation: New opportunities to capture value within the global content value chain 33
• 2.1 Technological innovation has drastically transformed content production and distribution in the audiovisual, gaming, and music sectors 34
• 2.2 New opportunities emerge from increasingly global and segmented content value chains 45
• Part II: Barriers to Development 61
• 3. Foundations for Policymaking: Governance, strategy development, data availability, and public-private dialogue 63
• 3.1 Multiple government agencies are responsible for supporting creative industries in each country 64
• 3.2 Governments are developing creative industry strategies, but they sometimes lack effectiveness 66
• 3.3 Lack of well-organized and accessible industry data hinders the efficient allocation of resources 68
• 3.4 Public–private dialogue is siloed, making it hard for industry players to advocate for common interests 69
• 4. Talent: Skills, education systems, and job quality 70
• 4.1 Creative industries are beset by a mismatch between demand and supply of skills for jobs 71
• 4.2 Education and training systems struggle to adapt to ever-changing skill demands 81
• 4.3 Low wages, long working hours, and lack of safety nets hamper the quality of jobs 97
• 5. Regulatory and Business environment: Incentives, financial support, content bans, and intellectual property protection 101
• 5.1 Financial support has room for improvement in all four focus countries 102
• 5.2 Unclear regulation may discourage foreign (and local) investment 111
• Part III: Policies 118
• 6. Best Practices: How creative powerhouses foster growth and job creation in digital creative industries 119
• 6.1 Canada created thousands of jobs by subsidizing salaries and attracting “anchor companies” 120
• 6.2 The Republic of Korea built a strong national brand through the global export of K-culture 121
• 6.3 Colombia built a thriving audiovisual ecosystem from the ground up in only 10 years 125
• 6.4 Malaysia is on track to become the Southeast Asian hub for digital businesses 126
• 6.5 The United Kingdom developed a structured approach to creative skill development that relies on public–private collaboration 128
• 6.6 Singapore positioned itself as the gateway to Southeast Asia by prioritizing skill development and favoring collaboration with international players 131
• 6.7 Spain developed a national audiovisual strategy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs 133
• 7. Conclusions: Key lessons and policy recommendations 135
• 7.1 Foundations for effective policymaking: ensure a clear governance, set up a solid data framework, develop along-term vision, and enhance public–private dialogue 136
• 7.2 Talent development: craft policies to enhance capacity-building and create a robust talent pipeline 139
• 7.3 Enabling environment: ensure regulation supports rather than hampers the development of local creative industries 152