About the Project

This project aims to provide a rich and informative data set and analyses of South Australia’s creative industries, and to develop a framework for the conceptualisation and ongoing assessment of the sector. This will enable:

• a better understanding of the value networks operating in, across and beyond this sector into the broader economy;

• the State’s creative industries to be benchmarked against their national and global counterparts;

• the identification of policy issues, frameworks for analyses and possible future strategies for these industries.

Building on studies conducted locally, nationally and internationally, the project will conceptually define and statistically map the features of companies, organisations and individuals across the creative industries in South Australia, including their location and linkages.

The study will document the present “landscape” of creative industries in South Australia, examining industry structure, business turnover, employment size, inter and intra industry linkages, as well as assessing the potential for growth of the creative industries in South Australia, taking into account strengths, weaknesses, barriers and opportunities.

Objectives of Study

• To advance the theoretical understanding of creative industries in the context of a knowledge-based economy in a ‘network society’;

• Apply creative industry innovations to the development of South Australia as an economy that generates new opportunities for wealth creation, employment and export growth;

• Provide an innovative use of business modelling (such as value networks and cluster development) to map dynamic interactions in the creative industries, including creative inputs into the broader economy.

The study will seek to address following questions:

• What industries constitute the Creative Economy in South Australia?

• Where do these industries exist?

• What do they produce?

• How much do these industries contribute to the South Australian economy in terms of employment, income generated, value added and export outcomes?

• What are the relationships between creative content producers, distributors and suppliers mapped in these industries? What resources are made available to them? What do they need to grow?

• What is the nature of creative inputs into service sectors, such as education, health, government and business services?

• Can or do ‘creative clusters’ physically exist in South Australia, and does South Australia have the critical mass to make such clusters viable?

• How, where and when can economic growth drivers be provided to the creative industries players in South Australia?

• What are the implications for the South Australian Government and the creative industries in terms of policy and economic policy?

Methodology

The study will build upon the analytical concepts and methodologies employed by the Queensland University of Technology’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI), as part of their Creative Industries in Queensland: Cluster Mapping and Value-chain Analysis study – and, more recently, the Creative Digital Industry National Mapping Project (NMP).

An ongoing component of the study will be the development of an economic modelling framework to support the continued analysis of the creative sector. This will involve collaboration between the South Australian project team and CCI researchers. The model framework will be based on the Monash Model/ORANI framework as prepared by the Centre of Policy Studies at Monash University, through the application of the GEMPAK software package.

The study will involve a full sectoral mapping exercise, incorporating quantitative and qualitative surveys and analyses of all creative sectors in South Australia. It will attempt to quantify the contribution of creative industries - initial and flow-on effects - to the South Australian economy (in terms of output, value added and employment).

The survey and interviews will be carefully targeted to ensure that there are representative numbers of organisations on the basis of industry activity, firm size/turnover estimates and location within South Australia. The sample will be drawn from a comprehensive database of individuals and firms working in creative industries that will be compiled by the South Australian research team, with the assistance of key industry partners.

In addition to the primary data collected via surveys and interviews, quantitative analysis of secondary data will provide additional information on:

• the number and distribution of businesses within the creative industries;

• the occupation and earnings from the employment of people within businesses in creative industries;

• the qualifications of employed people within businesses;

• the type of products and/or services that an organisation generates through its activities;

• the 'life-cycle' of firms and segments (including growth and firm failure rates).

These secondary data – sourced primarily from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (including national Census and Labour Force surveys), Sensis Yellowpages and the Australian Business Register - have been compiled by the CCI as part of the National Mapping Project.

The information gathered in this study will therefore provide insights into:

• the size, value and contribution of creative industries – collectively and for each sub-sector – to the South Australian economy ($ output, value added);

• employment in creative and ‘non-creative’ industries (specialists, embedded and support occupations) – number employed, value of employment;

• export value;

• location of businesses;

• industry flows – inputs and outputs.

In addition, the study will attempt to elicit more detailed information about a range of broader issues that affect creative industries in South Australia, including identifying common characteristics that influence an industry's capacity for growth and external factors influencing growth potential. This information will be used to establish an evidential base for policy making.