Mr. Ian Brannigan:

The Western Development Commission, WDC, formally expresses its gratitude to the committee and its members for the invitation today to make a presentation on the creative economy. As my colleagues have already mentioned, we will address some of the national case but, more specifically, the regional case for the creative economy that we have discovered in our work.

As members know, the WDC has a statutory remit to foster and promote economic growth in the seven counties of the west. We have a vision, as expressed in the notes available to members, about making a confident global region and all that pertains to that in the creative economy. However, we are involved with much more than the creative economy. We promote our region to individuals and enterprise globally and we have in excess of 1 million visits to the request website. Through policy, access to finance instruments and innovative development programmes with partners, we have supported 1,899 jobs in recent tough times. As such, we would welcome more time to discuss such issues with committee members under the theme of broader economic development.

There is a question of why we would consider the creative economy, and that has already been addressed by colleagues today. It is globally important and of growing significance to advanced, knowledge-based economies. Equally, for us, it is unique in a regional sense in that it is one of the few industrial sectors where growing thought indicates that jobs tend to follow people in the creative class rather than people following jobs, which has traditionally been the modus operandi. Growing research also demonstrates that regions in particular are well suited to exploit this creative economy due to certain factors inherent within them.

The WDC has mapped, with partners, the creative economy in our region, and that forms much of the discussion today. As has been mentioned, we have engaged with National University of Ireland, Galway, and the Whitaker Institute, Teagasc and others, as well as Oxford Economics. Some of the key findings have been circulated to members. The creative economy in our region is a sector employing almost 11,000 people directly. It is a sector which engages nearly 5,000 businesses and it also earned more than €534 million. It also offers opportunities, and we know there is a very big opportunity now with exports. That line is often trotted out but we have measured it through commissioned work. There is a very low participation rate in exports among creative businesses and the value is very low indeed. As such, that gives us good headroom in which to get products to a global market. As has been mentioned by my colleagues, quality of life is essential to the discussion about the creative economy. It begets success in many other industries and some would argue it is also the seed of innovation, and many of the regions in our country would be eternally grateful if we could move along in that respect.

That, in broad brush strokes, is the case for this being a significant sector. We can consider what we have done in the previous six or seven years. Along with partners such as the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, NUIG and the Whitaker Institute, Teagasc, the local authorities and many others, nationally as well as internationally, we in the WDC and through the good work of my colleague, Ms Pauline White, and others have engaged in trying to have a programme to develop growth areas within the creative economy. We have some ideas on what has worked and what has not.

As members have already heard, we have put in significant effort in the Creative Edge, which has garnered 550 international businesses in the creative economy, allowing them to access global markets. It is a beginning, not an end, but the access is now established. Through another programme, Creative Momentum, we have an international expertise to assist growing in new markets and new product development. For example, Finnish expertise is helping Irish capital to come together for new product development, which is always a good thing. What is important from the point of view of the WDC, given our western investment fund and our background in venture capital, VC, expertise, we have an access to finance instrument, a micro-loan ability up to €25,000. We have earmarked €1 million over three years. That is giving creative economy businesses access to seed capital in terms of export growth.

In total, the Western Development Commission, WDC, with partners, has sourced and is directing almost €4 million of risk capital to this critical sector, €2 million of which is directly in the region. For us, the creative economy is indigenous. It is also immutable in that it is bound within our region. That is really important because it gives different ways in which to tackle the creative economy, both in the urban centres and in the rural centres depending on the regional identity. The simplest way to put it is that people come to my region to be creative because they are inspired by it. They do not want Temple Bar any more. They are looking for other ways in which to create goods and services and we need to get them to the world. We are helping them to try to do that.

I will not go into the reasons the region is so inspiring. We have a lot of data on it, but I will just mention some key points. Galway is a UNESCO designated city of film. Music and literature from the west are famous nationally and internationally. In Yeats we have an iconic poet and in 2015 we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth. This is a national commemoration with which the west is proud to be associated, not just from a commemorative aspect but also from an enterprise and entrepreneurial aspect. We have Aosdána communities and film and audiovisual clusters. We have all the components to make a world class global economy within our region and we believe that it is also the national story. It is not just us. As has been mentioned, the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas, CEDRA, has earmarked the creative economy as one of the areas of diversification in the rural economy. We commend it in that regard and will work with it to achieve that goal. The Action Plan for Jobs, an innovation of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, has earmarked the creative industries for the deepest consideration in terms of support.

In essence, the WDC has sought to showcase innovatively and support this highly indigenous and sustainable sector within our region. The next step in the vision is to grow the sector significantly in the coming years, with product development and exports being the key areas of development. The WDC is working with national, regional and international partners and businesses to implement this using private sector, national and European funding.

To enable this transformation and have the creative economy truly become of global stature, it is essential to evolve the national support narrative to access broader enterprise development programs for the creative economy. It cannot just be grant funded; it needs more sophisticated instruments of support. Due to the highly indigenous, specialised and geographically rooted nature of enterprises in the creative sector, the WDC would strongly recommend consideration of a permanent regional creative sector development function to be established. This would greatly accelerate realisation of a vision to create a global indigenous sector in the west and other regions and realise the revenue opportunities there. Once again, I offer many thanks for the kind invitation and consideration of committee members.