The creative industry sector in Serbia has a 5% share of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with a clear upward trend, almost levelling with tourism (6%), agriculture (6%) and construction (4%) share, shows a report compiled by the Faculty of Economics of Belgrade on the effects of creative industries on the national economy.
The growth of the number of companies in the creative industries sector by 25% (from 56,000 to 70,700 companies registered from 2016 to 2018), which are engaged 80 activities based on talent, ideas, knowledge and creativity, and 120,000 new jobs created in this industry are indicators of the development and importance of this sector, the report shows.
The contribution of the creative industries sector is perhaps best illustrated by the total exports of this sector, which have increased by 46.7% in the last two years alone, while in comparison, the total exports of Serbia have increased by 30%.
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In the last three years alone, extremely important investments have been made in this sector, worth over 400 million euro, namely investments in research and development, education, creation of new values and new intellectual property in Serbia.
“The analysis shows that the largest number of companies, in this period, was founded in the sectors of computer programming, video game development and audiovisual content production”, the report titled “The analysis of the economic effects of the creative industries sector on the Serbian economy,” says.
Igor Kovacevic, assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, explains that creative industries are very important because they put knowledge and information in the forefront as fundamental resources on which modern economies are based, and thus contribute to the transformation of a knowledge-based society.
“In this context, creative industries add value to traditional industries and improve production efficiency, increase the quality of products that are now more tailored to the needs of contemporary consumers and, finally, make products and services available globally,” said Kovacevic.
“In addition, the integrative and developmental dimensions at macro and micro level have an impact on the whole economy. Significant foreign investments by major global companies in Serbia have shown that the products of creative industries in Serbia are already recognized worldwide which positions our country on the world map of creative industries,” concluded Kovacevic.
(RTV, 05.03.2020)
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