CrossBoundary Quarterly: Creative Economies

CrossBoundary’s work places us at the center of some of the world’s most vibrant and culturally rich locations on the planet. We are privileged to see firsthand not only how creatives shape the societies in which we work and live, but also how individuals and businesses are leveraging new tools and technologies to identify new customers, scale their distribution, and access global markets. Oftentimes we help them do so.

While many readers will be familiar with the engrossing paintings of Fernando Botero, the energetic rhythms of Afrobeats, the intricate mosaics of the Middle East, and the alluring musicals in a Bollywood film, it may come as a surprise that the rise of the “creative economy” is a key focus for economic development.

In fact, the creative economy—also known as the “orange” economy—is vital in helping countries to diversify the composition of their output while enabling new sources of growth.

Broadly speaking, the creative economy is comprised of two categories of activity: culture and knowledge. To be fair, these are extremely broad categories, encompassing artists and advertisers, designers and software developers, fashion and film, and much else besides. However, each of these industries focus on the generation of intellectual property (IP).

Over the last two decades, there has been secular growth in the “intangible economy,” with economic returns increasingly being tied to IP rather than tangible assets. Traditionally, gatekeepers have controlled the generation and flow of IP, determining which types of content had value to whom, and how much the creators should receive in compensation.

The internet disrupted this, enabling the global distribution and recombination of ideas at virtually zero marginal costs. Moreover, the greater availability of data is facilitating the ability of small business to engage in international trade (a capability our Data Analytics team has been actively building). As Michael Mauboussin highlights in a recent research piece, these characteristics are forms of increasing returns to scale.

We believe investors should be paying closer attention to this trend. That is why our inaugural edition of the CrossBoundary Quarterly explores the theme of “Creative Economies.”

In this issue, Olowo Aminu and Chika Obodo from our Nigeria office explore how technology is driving a renaissance for creators across Africa. Kymberly Bays, our Global Head of Communications, provides a deep dive on the global relevance of South Sudanese creatives and athletes. And, Laura García-Aguirre and Gabriela Bojanini from our Bogota office collaborate with Pedro Alejandro Cárdenas (creative director of Pigmento Crew) on the role that creative industry ecosystems are playing in revitalizing Colombia’s municipalities.

We hope you enjoy this issue, and please let us know what you think!

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