Keynote speaker: Dr. Saeed Al-Amoudi
Speaker 1: Hussam Al-Beheiri
Speaker 2: Mr. Nabil Al-Mubarak
Moderator: Mr. Walid Al-Harthi
Summary
After the United Nations General Assembly officially adopted World Creativity and Innovation Day on April 27, 2017, the world celebrates this day on April 21 every year. This is to remind people and encourage them to use creativity to make the world a better place to live. They are also encouraged to use creativity and innovation to solve all types of problems related to achieving the sustainable development goals adopted in 2015.
Creativity and innovation, at both individual and collective levels, have become the real wealth of countries in the 21st century, according to the results of the special edition of the report on creative economics, “Expanding Development Tracks,” which was published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This report focused on considering culture as an essential component of sustainable development and represents a source of identity, innovation, and creativity for the individual and society. At the same time, creativity and culture have a significant non-financial value that contributes to comprehensive social development, dialogue, and understanding among peoples. Accordingly, a new term was coined “creative industries”. This term refers to creative industries around the world, which are growing faster than other sectors, and they are estimated to account for more than seven percent of global GDP, and seven percent of employment. The value of creative industries is expected to reach $ 6.1 trillion by 2020.
However, the concept of creative industries in Saudi Arabia is unclear, because the Saudi economy is predominantly a traditional one. Therefore, there are no industries based on creativity and innovation in its various forms as a pillar of the country’s national income.
The contributions made on the issue included the following themes:
- The concept and dimensions of creativity.
- The concept of creative economy.
- Factors of having a creative environment.
- The NEOM project attracting talents and creators.
- King Abdulaziz Foundation and the development of creativity.
- Towards practical solutions to create a creative environment in education.
- Creativity in media.
For more information on the issue, please refer to the link:
Recommendations:
- Not ignoring any creator or innovator and proving guidance to the right place, regardless of the economic and national feasibility.
- Catering for making and forming knowledge communities, particularly relative to information and telecommunication technology.
- Adopting educational policies and initiatives based on policies of knowledge communities for the best interest of the State, focusing on learning and education development.
- Supporting human development areas, where creativity, innovation, and successful competition are possible.
- Transforming the traditional economy into a creative one, taking into account the elements below: (human, education, family, society, organization, administration, material, culture, reality).