International Trade Forum

The global market for traded goods and services of the creative industries has enjoyed an unprecedented dynamism in recent years. Their global export value reached US$ 424.4 billion in 2005, accounting for 3.4% of world trade as compared with US$227.4 million in 1996 according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Exports of creative goods from developing economies accounted for 29% of world exports of such goods in 1996 and reached 41% in 2005, with China alone accountin...

The Power of Design in Global Development

In an interview, Jocelyn Wyatt, head of IDEO's social innovation design domain, talked about the power of design to change the world. IDEO began 30 years ago by designing products. However, over time they've applied the approach of human-centered design to services, spaces, businesses and systems. They believe in the power of design thinking to enrich and transform, and to take on big challenges that the world faces, from climate change to education and health care to financial inclusion. The...

Hsbc Cultural Exchange Programme: The Business of Engaging in Cultural Industries

In 2008, London's Victoria & Albert Museum housed China Design Now -- the first exhibition in the UK to explore the explosion of contemporary design in China. The first major display in the developed world of modern China's creative industries, it was also an attempt to understand the impact of rapid economic development on architecture and design in China's major cities. Sponsored by the banking and financial services multinational HSBC, China Design Now is an example of how such compani...

Art Imitating Art

Referred to as the "bible" of music journalism, Rolling Stone is one of the most respected media brands and distribution channels in the world. At the time of the launch of Rolling Stone India, the US edition had a cult following on the streets of the subcontinent with an under ground culture built upon the second-hand copies being passed around. As the Chief Creative Officer of JWT India at the time, Agnello Dias was the architect of the campaigns creative vision. Dias and his team -- workin...

The Digital Revolution: The World at the Click of a Button

Through technology a new world exists, where inspiration, collaboration, research and marketing to new and existing customers are literally at the touch of a button. The report points out that creativity is at the heart and soul of a culture and the expression of this creativity can allow emerging economies to leapfrog "into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy". From e-commerce solutions like PayPal and Google Checkout to crowd-sourcing, user-generated content and education distri...

Mobile Technology: Driving Change and Opportunity in Developing Countries

Most people take the convenience of using a mobile phone for granted, but for billions of people, mobile devices and services can transform their lives. A recent study reported that adding an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country boosts economic growth in gross domestic product per person by 0.8 percentage points. People in emerging markets are using mobile technology in more powerful ways than those in the developed world. In developing countries, new mobile ...

Trade in Sounds

New technologies have fundamentally changed the global music market. The advent of digital networks as a new promotion and distribution medium means that the investments required to produce, market and distribute music is now lower than ever before, offering small recording companies unprecedented opportunities to offer their products at affordable prices for consumers. Despite being the home of world music, developing countries are for the most part unable to provide the production and promo...

Itc in Action Carmina Campus

At the July 2009 G8 Summit in Italy, the First Ladies in attendance, including Michelle Obama, were presented with a message bag. Co-produced in Cameroon, these unique handbags are made by one of the most innovative ethical fashion accessory labels in Italy, Carmina Campus. With significant sales in Japan, the US and Europe, the label is steadily growing in popularity and business success. The founder of Carmina Campus, Ilaria Venturini Fendi, believes the success of her brand is not just a r...

An Interview with Ilaria Venturini Fendi Carmina Campus

In an interview, Ilaria Venturini Fendi, founder of Carmina Campus, talked about her biggest challenges, her views on ethical fashion and social engagement. Venturini Fendi said the first challenge is in supplying the group of women with the opportunity to receive on-the-job training in production, so they can become self-sufficient. For her, ethical means what is good to do. The word has become a sort of buzzword lately, but in her opinion it deserves greater attention. She thinks that the p...

Itc in Action

The success of ITC's Export-led Poverty Reduction Program (EPRP) project in Mongolia is paving the way for the country's wool producers to capitalize on tourists' demand for felt products and succeed in overseas markets. As Mongolia boasts more than 24 million head of livestock and 10.6 million sheep, the processing and export of wool and felted fashion presented opportunities to generate income and create employment for poor nomadic and urban communities. Weaving and wearing silk are deeply ...

The International Value Chain of Ethical Fashion

Fashion designer Tom Ford has heralded it. Julie Gilhart, SVP of Barneys department stores, is buying it. And from fashion critic Suzy Menkes to the editor of Vogue Italia, Franca Sozzani, the powerbrokers of the international fashion media are endorsing it. Ethical and sustainable fashion is style. The challenge now is to bring it into the mainstream and onto the streets. Sozzani thinks that in the future, approaching fashion in an ethically responsible manner will be the way to behave. The ...

Brac-Aarong: Financing and Promoting the Creative Industries

In 1972, Fazle Hasan Abed founded the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and a holistic development model that has revolutionized income-generating opportunities for rural communities in developing countries. Through its handicraft and fashion section, Aarong, BRAC has developed a sustainable national brand that provides a livelihood in the creative industries for tens of thousands of people across Bangladesh. Initially established as a small-scale and rehabilitation project to ass...

Solutions for Adapting to Copyright in the Technology Age

The protection of intellectual property rights has become one of the most difficult challenges for creative industries, affecting governments, artists, creators, analysts and agencies alike. The most significant challenge is how legal and policy frameworks can keep up with the fast-paced and constantly evolving digital world. While copyright remains the fundamental guarantor of the rights of authorship, the Creative Commons movement is a fast-growing area of interest in the protection of inte...

From Artist to Audience

Directory

Co-Production Film Treaties in Caribbean Countries - the Unfinished Story

The creative sector now accounts for 5.2% of Jamaica's gross domestic product -- which is more than the country's traditional mining sector. It is not only the music industry that is having an enormous impact on Jamaica's creative industries. Bolstered by co-production treaties with the UK, the film industry is making a significant contribution to growth and development opportunities, but not without challenges. While these co-production treaties have improved the market potential for the ind...

A Unique Approach for Developing Countries

International trade in electrical and electronic products is becoming increasingly competitive. To develop their electrotechnical industry sector, to gain access to regional or international markets and to make sure that imported electrical and electronic goods are safe and reliable, developing countries have access to IEC International Standards and Conformity Assessment (CA) systems. The combination of IEC International Standards and CA systems makes products safer and more reliable, increa...

Boost to Promoting Intra-Asian Trade in Organic Products

Challenges in Agro-Food Exports

Many developing countries are ill equipped to take advantage of the opportunities provided by trade. Weak infrastructure lack of capacity and the inability to meet technical product specifications and stringent requirements in terms of quality, safety health and the environment impede their integration into global markets. They need to enhance compliance with technical standards to heighten consumer confidence and gain access to regional and global value chains, especially those of transnatio...

Closing the Gap

Gap Inc is one of the world's largest clothing retailers. It is also an industry leader in ethical sourcing and supply chain management through a social responsibility program that advocates human rights as an essential component of quality and standards management. Under its brands Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta, Gap Inc is one the world's largest specialty retailers with more than 3,000 stores and 130,000 employees around the world. Gap outscores to more than 1500 pro...