Dutch ICT sector finds creative industry (at last)

At the iMMovator meeting last Tuesday not only Breednet (Broadnet) was presented but also the CREATE platform, which stands for Creative And Technology Exchange. It is a network project between ICT companies and the digital creative industry. The network consists of the association of IT, Telecom, Office and Internet companies, ICT~Office, with 500 members, which turn over 30 billion euro annually, and of creative networks like Design Connection Eindhoven, iMMovator, MediaGuild and V2_.

The ICT sector in The Netherlands has discovered the creative industry. Two years ago it started to look into membership for ISPs. Following all the attention for the creative industry as a sector of growth and the Creative Challenge Call of the ministry of Economic Affairs and ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the sector is now looking closer at cooperation in the form of the CREATE platform. The purpose of CREATE is to economically generate added value for the creative industry and the ICT sector. The idea behind the CREATE initiative is that the creative industry can make a contribution to the innovative force of the ICT sector, while the ICT sector can function as a leverage for the creative industry in the development of products and services.

The ICT sector has been slow in adapting to the market convergence and certainly to the media convergence. On the other hand the creative industry has problems with marketing and sales as they are usually small companies, working in a fragmented market. Natural business networks are lacking and matching mechanisms are lacking. So, it is not surprising that synergy is under-resourced.

The platform has now set up a number of activities.
1. Network meetings. These meetings are planned in various cities and are hosted by local creative platforms (Amsterdam with MediaGuild; Hilversum with iMMovator; Rotterdam with V2_; Eindhoven with Design Connection Eindhoven/region)
2. The match. ICT companies challenge creative companies to make a pitch for an assignment.
3. Manager traineeships. During these traineeships, managers in the ICT sector will spent time in a creative company and vv.
4. Techno Master classes. During these master classes creatives can upgrade their knowledge about technology and discover new possibilities for their products and services.
5. Best practice cases. Best practice cases concerning cooperation between ICT companies and creatives will be presented.
6. Online environment. The platform starts with a site online, but likes to built out this site to an exchange platform of supply and demand.

The platform looks good. At last the ICT sector takes a serious interest in the creative industry. It has taken some time for ICT companies to take an interest in the smaller creative companies. Usually the ICT companies aimed at corporate for subscription and payment management and later on for running internet sites. But the companies did not move into the creative side of products and services. I personally think that the platform should organize, besides pitches, also an annual competition, showing the Dutch creative products and services and promoting them abroad. But that is my hobby horse, I guess.

Blog Posting Number 797

Tags: ICT, creative industry