Creative Capital Florida The Creative Ethos Creativity is

Creative Capital (Florida) • The Creative Ethos • Creativity is essential to the way we live and work. - Traditional economic factors such as land, natural resources, labour and capital have become less crucial / more obtainable. • Human Creativity is multi-faceted and multidimensional. - It requires a supportive environment that provides social, cultural and economic stimuli. • Creative process is not just individual but social. - Forms of organisation are necessary but elements of organisation can and frequently stifle creativity.

Myths of the Creative Age • “Technology will liberate us” or “Technology will enslave us” Techno-utopianism and techno-determinism But for technology to be effective, it requires a whole set of supportive organisational, social and economic adjustments. • “The dinosaurs are doomed”, “Power to the people”, “Going Hollywood” The age of large corporations is over as business firms become more ad hoc and there will be more free agents engaged in projects instead of being tied down to any one corporation. But organisations of all sizes and types have distinct roles to play in a creative economy. An economy of only small, short-lived entities would be no more sustainable than an ecosystem composed only of insects

Dimensions of creativity • Creativity is not the same as “intelligence” although intelligence helps creativity. • Creativity is the ability to synthesise – new and useful ideas. • Creativity requires the ability to take risks. • Creativity is multi-faceted and experiential. • Varied forms of creativity that we typically see as different from one another – technological creativity (invention), economic creativity (entrepreneurship) and artistic and cultural creativity – are deeply interrelated.

Dimensions of creativity • Different forms of creativity share a common thought process, reinforce each other through cross-fertilisation and mutual stimulation. • Though stimulating and glamorous, creativity is work: Thomas Edison (technological creativity) & George Bernard Shaw (cultural creativity). • Creativity can take a long time. E. g. biomedical research typically takes 10 years from discovery to drug development.

Dimensions of creativity • Creativity is largely driven by intrinsic rewards, i. e. internal motivations and own interest rather than money. • Creativity flourishes best in a unique kind of social environment: stable to allow continuity of effort, yet diverse and broad-minded to nourish creativity in all its subversive forms. • The importance of social structure of innovation a supportive social milieu that is open to all forms of creativity – artistic and cultural as well as technological and economic.

The Creative Economy • Ideas as economic goods creativity as the ultimate source of economic value. • Increasing returns of ideas: a good idea can be used over and over again, without wear and tear, and grows in value the more it is used as it can be built upon. • Creativity as an economic force in history. 1. The rise of agriculture: it engaged and rewarded our ancestors’ creative faculties because as a system, it is highly amenable to elaboration and improvement. 2. Trade and specialisation: focusing on one particular kind of activity (or trade) allows people to devise new and better ways to do it.

The Creative Economy 3. Industrial capitalism: the combination of automated machinery and a system for using it efficiently unleashed a wave of creativity by kicking off mechanical innovation. 4. The organisational age: it allows research and development (technological creativity) to be organised and done systematically and advances in industrial production increased efficiency and reduced cost, bringing a host of new inventions to the masses.

Creative Capital Theory • Definition: regional economic growth is driven by the location choices of creative people – the holders of creative capital – who prefer places that are diverse, tolerant and open to new ideas. • Creative people, who prefer places that are diverse, tolerant and open to new ideas, power regional economic growth.

The 3 Ts of Creative Capital • The 3 Ts of economic dynamism: Technology, Talent and Tolerance. • Each is a necessary but by itself not a sufficient condition • Technology refers to the concentration of hightech industries and world-class universities, which is interrelated with Talent or human capital. • Tolerance refers to the low-entry barriers for people – where newcomers to the place are accepted quickly into all sorts of social and economic arrangements.

The 3 Ts Ø Florida measures tolerance using various indices such as the Gay Index, which measures the gay population of a city, the Bohemia Index that refers to the number of artistes and musicians and the Melting Pot Index that examines the diversity of nationalities. Ø Homosexuality represents the last frontier of diversity in many societies, and thus a place that welcomes the gay community welcomes all kinds of people. Ø Florida believes that creative people are drawn to places known for diversity of thought and open-mindedness. It is a sign that a place is open to outsiders as well. The presence of a tolerant and diverse community is also an indicator of the low entry barriers to human capital – which are important to spur creativity and high-tech growth.

Social Capital versus Creative Capital • Robert Putnam: features of social life – networks, norms and trust – enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives. Regional economic growth is associated with tight-knit communities where people and firms form and share strong ties. • Richard Florida: Social capital can cut both ways – while it can reinforce belonging and community (strong ties), it can just as easily shut out newcomers, raise barriers to entry, retard innovation and dampen the entrepreneurial spirit.

The world of weak ties • Because of the all-absorbing nature of creative work, many great thinkers of the past were people who formed no close ties: they had lots of colleagues and acquaintances, but few close friends and often no spouse or children. • Weak ties are important because we can manage more of them whereas strong ties, by nature, consume much more of our time and energy.

The world of weak ties • Psychiatrist Anthony Storr: ‘if intense periods of concentration over long periods are required to attain fundamental insights, the family man is at a disadvantage…. If Isaac had been subject to the demands of a wife or companionship or interrupted by the patter of tiny feet, it would certainly have been less easy for him’.

People Climate • Within regional clusters, it is the creative people that attract firms and investments – rather than the other way round. • Having an effective people climate that is open to diversity, where people can plug and play, that is, to fit in easily, is important. • A world-class people climate is aimed at attracting and retaining talents, especially creative ones. Such a people climate is one that is open to diversity and invests in lifestyle amenities that people really want.