The 5th South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) International Conference opened its doors to a vibrant dialogue on the evolution of creative economies, as the esteemed Dr Keith Nurse, president of the College of Science, Technology & Applied Arts in Trinidad and Tobago, delivered an eye-opening keynote address. 

His discourse centred on “Creative Destruction and the Future of Creative Economies in Africa and the Developing World”, challenging attendees to envision a transformative future driven by innovation and cultural capital.

Nurse noted that artificial intelligence (AI) is only one of the key technologies in the digital industrialisation process. There is the Internet of Things, e-commerce, Fintech, blockchain, data localisation, and the list goes on. 

“If in your economy or society, you are underinvesting in any of these key areas, you are way behind the curve. And that’s the case for most developing economies, most middle-income economies, with a few exceptions,” Nurse said. 

He said that in recent years, he has been reconceptualising how to measure the creative economy and has a simple and effective approach.

“I call it, follow the money principle. Where is the money being made? That’s where you need to look,” Nurse said. 

“The creative economy is now a Fintech-driven industry. I’ve seen our understanding of the sector move from creative arts, where we used to call it arts administration, then it was creative industries, then creative economy.” 

Nurse said that the creative sector has experienced the highest level of creative destruction of all sectors in the global economy. 

He noted that he has been monitoring financing, as access to finance is a critical factor in the creative economy, significantly impacting competitiveness and success.

Nurse explained that there was a need to think about new measurement tools that focus on the digital economy because the digital economy is now outpacing the so-called material economy.

“The global economy is being dematerialised. And really, for developing economies in Africa, we have three scenarios – I call them status quo, reversal, and innovation. If it is, we are indeed focused on transformation and innovation, then it requires us to do a number of things.

“It requires us to improve our investment, and this requires us to do better data capture and do more targeted facilitation for creative entrepreneurs and strengthen our policy environment accordingly,” Nurse explained.  

“The key point is this: policies by themselves are not going to transform the sector. You must have a strategy.”

Nurse further explained that the creative economy should no longer be seen as a standalone economy because it is part of a transversal economy. He said that, like tourism, they must apply a satellite accounting methodology. 

He said that this is because the creative economy is the key driver of a whole range of other economies. 

Looking at South Africa, Nurse said the country plays a crucial role and is a major economy in Africa. It is also one of the second or third largest economies. However, it has significant industrial capacity. 

He also said Africa has an important role in the emerging future, which is that it is estimated that between 40 and 50% of the world’s youth population is going to be coming from Africa in the next few decades. It means that the global region that is expanding in terms of consumption capacity is Africa.

He emphasised that the future lies in Africa, alongside Central Europe and, to some extent, Central Asia. The critical question then becomes: are we prepared to maximise this potential? A key argument would be to explore how our diaspora can be leveraged to further enhance this process.

“We must ensure that the future includes our content and our content as defined by us,” Nurse said. 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za

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