To extract increasing worth from the creative industries, Creative BC’s research identified nine enabling factors that positively impact value creation by the industries Creative BC serves and in turn, the ripple effect of their positive contributions to our lived experience.
Training + Development
Includes access to structured training, development programs and short-term workshops available to the creative workforce to advance skills, as well as programs that provide foundational education and training for new entrants to the workforce or for people transitioning into the sector from another.
Networks + Institutions
Encompasses the exchange of ideas through industry networks, mentoring, and collaboration. Includes regional clusters whose success is linked to creative output and quality, as well as complementary sectors that enable cross-pollination of ideas. Institutions refer to value chain collaborations that propel advocacy and problem-solving.
Access to Markets
The ability to sell projects, concepts, products, and services across borders, supported by international travel, showcasing opportunities, and business network growth. Includes navigating trade barriers imposed by other jurisdictions and enhancing marketability through branding and marketing.
Technology Adoption
Includes the adoption of technologies to achieve any number of benefits, such as decreasing the cost of production, improving the quality of finished goods and services, increasing sales and administration effectiveness and efficiency, and facilitating collaboration and communication.
Access to Funding
Includes various instruments available to businesses to finance their operations, achieve self-sufficiency, and enable long-term profitability and growth. Also includes advisory services provided by investors.
Facilitative Regulation
Includes policy and regulatory frameworks at all levels of government (federal, provincial, municipal) that are facilitative of content creation and commercialization, performance and distribution.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Includes the means to engage a broad range of populations throughout the communities and regions of B.C. so they may participate in the value chain as creators, collaborators and consumers.
Infrastructure
Represents capital investments in the value chain including those that are specific to, and exclusively for the sector as well as those that are leverageable by the sector but available to multiple sectors. This includes investments into community resources and spaces in addition to individual companies.
Other Favourable Business Conditions
Includes all other factors that impact the ability for the value chain to thrive and, generally, the “cost of doing business”, such as availability of labour, interprovincial mobility, cost of living, quality of life, presence of other sectors competing for the same skills, etc.
About the 9 Enabling Factors
Creative BC’s CIERA™ research studies the economic impacts of B.C.’s creative industries across their three-part value chain: create-produce-distribute. However, as experienced globally during the pandemic’s shutdown, their value to society delivers tremendous non-economic benefits beyond GDP and jobs.
Around the world, we stayed connected while staying apart with entertainment through screens, earbuds, consoles and hardcover. Storytelling deepens our sense of self and influences how we relate to others, encouraging us to explore our individual and collective beliefs. Creative content translates experiences—transcending time and space to unite us, change our opinions, and instill values.
While out of scope for Creative BC’s research, the value of B.C.’s creative industries to our provincial culture through the reflection, expression and documentation of our history is important to note.
Several frameworks were drawn upon to identify and define the enabling factors, including those from the World Economic Forum, the Conference Board of Canada, the Boston Consulting Group, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and various industry reports.
Particularly at this pivotal time in securing the industries’ capacity to endure, recover and thrive, Creative BC sees these factors as a framework to inform strategic planning efforts, including the definition of priorities, goals, strategies and metrics—by Creative BC, government, industry and other stakeholders going forward.